


Eyes never lie

by LittleTurtle95



Category: Coraline (2009), Coraline - Neil Gaiman, IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Circus, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Horror, But only half of the time, Coming Out, Eddie Kaspbrak Has a Crush, Eddie Kaspbrak is a gay disaster, F/F, Finding out sexuality, Halloween, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Multi, Oblivious Eddie Kaspbrak, Queer Themes, Scary Clowns, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, Spooky, Stanley Uris is a Mess, Stanley Uris is a bird, The Other World sucks, previous Bill Denbrough/Eddie Kaspbrak (one sided)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-15 11:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21252941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleTurtle95/pseuds/LittleTurtle95
Summary: He's out with his friend Bill when Eddie Kaspbrak breaks his arm. As soon as he comes back home, his mother decides she's had enough.The Kaspbraks move away for the summer, and Eddie is forced to live in a creepy house in the middle of nowhere, with some creepy neighbours and one loud obnoxious kid that annoys the shit out of him.When this kid gives Eddie a doll that is an exact copy of himself, things start to get weirder until Eddie opens the gate for the Other World.There, everything's better. His other mother, with buttons instead of her eyes, is not overbearing, she lets him eat whatever he wants and she lets him play outside.But not everything is s good as it seems in the Other World. Eyes are the mirror of the soul after all, and there are no eyes in this whole new world. No eyes but his own.





	1. A new home

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction is based on a Tumblr post made by @theghostwriter (Eduardo Andale). I found it brilliant and I had to write it. Go check this profile because it's really good!  
Bird!Stanley (things are going to change about that, so pay attention) is also their idea and I had to use that as well because well, it's perfect.
> 
> I hope you're going to enjoy this story, it's gonna be six chapters long and I only have to write the last one, others are already finished, so don't worry, it's not going to be left uncompleted.

Eddie sighed heavily, looking out of the car window.

"Don't be upset, Eddie bear. It's going to be an amazing summer for both of us" Sonia said, holding the steering wheel tightly with both his hands, eyes never leaving the road. She was always quite nervous when driving, but today it was different. Today she was happy. Today she won.

The week prior Eddie had been playing at the Quarry with his best friend Bill, they were playing Peter Pan, climbing trees and jumping from one branch to another. His mother hated when he was outside playing, she always said it was dangerous, that he could get hurt and he would leave her like his father did. That's why when Eddie came back home crying with a broken arm and the doctors said he had to wear a cast for one month, she finally lost it.

She had come to the Denbrough's house and yelled at Bill's parents for hours. That evening she started looking for a place to move in for the summer, he didn't want his precious son to hang out with such dangerous people ever again. Two weeks later, here they were, in a car in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles away from Derry and everything Eddie had ever known.

"It's going to be hell ma, you know it. I had only one friend and you took it away from me" the kid complained, even if he knew it was useless. They've had this argument countless times in the past two weeks and his mother replied always in the same way.

"He hurted you, honey. He wasn't a true friend"

"He didn't hurt me! I fell! From a tree! I was being stupid and I fell! That's all!"

"Yes, and why were you on a tree, Eddie bear? Why were you? You were playing on a tree because that gross kid forced you to-"

"Bill is not gross! And he didn't forc-"

"Enough, Eddie! You don't need anyone in your life that isn't me. You'll be with your mommy, safe and sound, in the countryside far from all the people that can hurt you, and everybody is gonna be great"

The boy groaned loudly but decided to shut up, he didn't want to piss his mother off and make the day go even worse.

"We should be almost there" Sonia muttered under her breath, when finally the big great gate that was on the announcement appeared on the left.

"Here we are!" the woman cheered, "exciting, isn't it?" she asked, but Eddie didn't reply.

The gate was there, on the side of this lonely road, woods was the only thing they had seen for miles, and inside the gate there were woods, too. Eddie found it a bit creepy to be honest, as he watched the road with concern.

Sonia asked him to go out of the car and open the gate for her and he obliged. The air was cool, way cooler than Maine's weather was. It was foggy and quite dark, even in the middle of the day. The trees made long lingering shadows on the path covered in dead leaves. He held the keys the house owner sent them one week before, and slowly opened the gate. It was heavy and he had to trigger his aspirator to prevent an asthma attack he could sense was coming in his lungs.

He quickly went back to his car and closed the door shut behind him, buckling up again. He imagined for a moment to be with Bill at the Quarry. To jump down in the lake, the lake he knew her mother would've hated if she knew he was bathing in such dirty water. When he was swimming and playing and fighting and building dams to try stop the stream he felt like he didn't need his aspirator, his medicines and all the drugs his mother fed him with.

_"I'm really going to hate this" _he thought, as they entered in the mansions' territory. The path after the gate wasn't very long. They passed by what it seemed like an old well, then the woods shifted to a quite nice yet a bit gloomy countryside.

There were three houses partially covered by the trees.

The one in the middle was quite lovely and looked like someone took care of it daily. It was freshly painted, there were nice flowers in the vases at the windows, and clothes were hanging down the drying rack.

The one on the right looked less cared of, but it wasn't so bad. A muffled noise came from inside, it seemed something like band music. All the windows were closed shut, but there was a nice mat in front of the door, and at last there wasn't mole on the walls.

The one on the left was the worst looking house Eddie had ever put his eyes on. It looked more than old, it looked ancient. Most of the windows were unhinged and hanged lazily towards the ground. A big stail of mold covered the upper half of the front wall, and two of the glass windows on the second floor were shattered down.

With Eddie's great dismay, Sonia pulled over and parked in front of this one.

"Oh my God ma, seriously?" Eddie whined, getting off the car. He felt like something was moving behind his back, he heard a muffled sound coming from the woods, but when he turned his back he didn't see anything suspicious.

"It surely needs some good work, I won't deny it, but at least it would be safe" the woman said, staring at the house in disbelief. It was clear she wasn't expecting something like that, but he had to keep going to prove her point.

"It needs some good work? Some good work? I will get tetanus only by sleeping in my bed! Tetanus, ma!" he said, taking a breath from his loyal inhaler, always in his hand. His breath was fastening and that wasn't good.

"Don't be silly Eddie bear, I brought your hypoallergenic sheets, you'll sleep fine. I heard there's one boy that must be your age that lives in one of the other houses, I'll ask him if he'll do some cleaning for a bunch of bucks"

That made Eddie tense, filled with hope for the first time since they left Derry, hours ago. "Really? There's another boy? Like me? In one of the other houses?" he asked, smiling in excitement. Maybe that wasn't going to suck that much, after all.

"You won't be able to talk to him, of course. I didn't bring you here far away from such bad company to make you meet another fool like that Bill"

"Bill's not a fool. He's my best friend" Eddie pointed out, as Sonia opened the door. The shrieking sound it made brought goosebumps on Eddie's skin.

_"Great. There's only one possible friend here and I can't even talk to him. Well, probably he wouldn't like me anyway, so... what if he is like Bowers? That would be a real nightmare" _he thought, remembering his middle school bully with a frown.

The boy heard a suspicious sound behind his back again, and he turned quicker this time. Ha almost got a glimpse of what it seemed somebody looking at him from behind the trees, but he couldn't be sure. Eddie gulped and went inside, following his mom.

The house at least was slightly better inside than outside. It was dark, and old, and dusty, and spider nets covered the ceiling, but at least no mole was in sight and the furniture was quite nice. Maybe he wouldn't get tetanus, after all.

"See? Amazing?" Sonia said, thrilled. "Make yourself at home honey, I'm going to the nearest town to get a phone line and call someone to bring all the boxes inside. I can't do it and you can't either, with that broken arm of yours!"

"Wait, _you _are going? And I'm gonna stay here? Alone?" Eddie asked in terror, looking anxiously towards the door as anything dangerous could burst inside at any given moment.

"Of course, honey. After a long car trip like that is not safe for you to go back in the car, you could feel nauseous. Choose the bedroom you like the most and start settling in, I'll bring you your personal box, okay?"

The boy triggered his inhaler again and breathed in, scared. His mother came back to the car and then home, handing him a small box with the personal belongings he cared the most.

Most of the stuff like clothes, medicines, and school books remained in the car, waiting for someone to help.

"Don't open the door to anyone, dear. We don't know these people. Anyone, do you hear me?" his mother said, and the kid nodded furiously. "I'll be back soon, you won't even notice my absence"

"Okay, ma" he replied, weakly.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked, furrowing one of her brows. The boy sighed and stepped closer, standing on his tiptoes to stamp a kiss on his mother's cheek.

"Good boy. See you later Eddie. Take an antiemetic, you could feel sick after the car trip"

"I'm not sick, ma"

"Take it anyway. Bye Eddie bear, I love you!"

"I love you" he sighed in response, watching as she was going away.

When the woman started the car and finally left the park in front of the house, Eddie started to panic. He watched in horror at the windows, knowing too well that anything could easily come inside even if he didn't open the door. He triggered for the billionth time his asthma aspirator, trying to feel better. He carefully took his small box with his sane hand and slowly took a look at he house.

Eddie soon noticed most of the lights had to be replaced. The kitchen wasn't so bad, and it was the less dusty room in the house, and the fridge apparently worked. The bathrooms were the worst, wet and dirty, and he knew his mother would have cleaned up for days to let him have a shower in there. The living room was huge, and the furniture looked fine, despite being old, or "vintage", since he was trying to make things sound better than they were.

There was one door on the first floor that was locked closed. He tried to open it many times, but he did not succeed, and soon gave up, no keys in sight. He was quite happy to be honest, because when he grabbed the hand hold the first time he felt a weird sensation in his stomach, something scary, something wrong, like hearing dogs barking before an earthquake. He shook his head and kept going, soon forgetting about the door.

He stepped up the stairs, being careful, even if they didn't look damaged. Upstairs there was the third and last bathroom of the house, a bit better than the other two, at least he didn't spot cockroaches and the light worked; and three double bedrooms. Two of them had their windows broken, so Eddie opted for the third one.

It was dusty, and that made him wheezy, since he was allergic to dust. He triggered his inhaler and feared he would have choked to death if he ever slept in that queen size bed. There was a huge wardrobe that looked expensive, and a chair stood next to the bed, that probably was meant to be the bedside table. The light didn't work in this one, but it was the less cold of them and during the day he would have had the sun light (even if the place was quite foggy and dark to be the beginning of July), and during the night he wouldn't have needed light anyway.

He slowly put the tiny box he was holding on the bed, that made a shrieking noise like everything in that house. Inside there were his Tom Sawyer book, he had to read it during the holidays for school, two spare aspirators, and a picture of Bill he gave him the day he left, apologizing for what he did. Eddie tried to explain to him that it wasn't his fault and his mother was crazy, but the boy had felt miserable anyway.

Eddie didn't want Bill to feel miserable. He was the best boy he had ever known, and not only because he was the only one that actually cared about him. Bill was surprisingly good at everything. He was creative and invented the best games in the world, he was brave, athletic and adventurous, three things Eddie could never be, and he liked him a lot for that.

Well, not like _like, _the way he was supposed to like girls, obviously. Even if Eddie never had a crush on a girl, but that was only because Derry's girls were gross, he was sure about that. And maybe sometimes he looked in Bill's green and clear eyes and felt knots in his stomach. But that was because Bill was perfect, it was totally normal, he was sure everyone thought that about Bill, too.

He put the picture on the chair, the book in the wardrobe and the two inhalers in the fanny pack he always wore on his hips. He sighed. Anything could make this room look like _home. _

He was thinking about how miserable he was feeling, when he heard a knock on the door. The boy frowned and look outside of the window, Sonia's car wasn't in sight. He felt goosebumps on his skin, as he stepped slowly out of the room.

Another knock, louder this time, with muffled words he couldn't quite recognise.

_"Don't open the door to anyone, dear. We don't know these people. Anyone, do you hear me?" _he remembered his mother saying. He knew two of the upstairs windows were broken, and he asked himself what he should do.

"I know you're inside, come on!" he heard, when he was in the middle of the stairs. The voice sounded of a young boy, perhaps he was the one his mother was talking about when they arrived.

_"But what if it's a trick?" _Eddie reasoned, and stopped in the kitchen, looking for a knife. As soon as he opened the kitchen drawers, two big spiders ran away scared, in front of his eyes. Eddie flinched. He chose carefully what it looked like the biggest knife, it was dirty and dusty and sticky. He held it anyway, going towards the door. He heard the boy groan behind it, when he decided to slam that open.

"Hey!" a seemingly friendly boy said, grinning, but as soon as he noticed the knife Eddie was holding quickly stepped back, his hands up showing that he meant no harm. One of the hands held something that looked quite familiar. "Woah woah woah, careful with that, bud!"

"Who are you? How do you know I'm here? What do you want?" Eddie asked, so fast he feared the guy didn't understand what he said. He inhaled from his aspirator with the arm in the cast, while the sane one kept holding the knife. The action had to seem way less threatening then his previous flow of words, because the boy relaxed and put down his hands, smiling again.

Eddie thought he looked kind of okay. Not stunning like Bill, of course, no one was stunning like Bill was, but not bad either. Kind of cute, actually. Was he allowed to think guys were cute? Wasn't it a thing girls were?

He had a dumb hawaiian shirt, ripped jeans, and a thick pair of glasses that made his eyes look insanely big. Raven hair long enough to cover his hears but not enough to touch the base of his neck, and he was tall, perhaps taller than Bill too, but he didn't look nearly as athletic.

"Okay, well, were do I start? My name is Richie Tozier and I live next door. I knew you were here because I saw you when you arrived with your mom and I saw her leave immediately after and you weren't with her. I came to say hi and to introduce myself, of course, and because I wanted to give you this. Here, take it" the boy said, and Eddie deepened the frown. It didn't look like the kid meant harm, so he took what he was holding.

Without looking at it he looked up at him and asked, with a perplexed grimace "You were spying on me when I arrived, I heard you. It was you, right? You scared me"

Richie shrugged his shoulder with an half smile. "You got me!"

"Why were you spying on me, exactly?" Eddie asked suspiciously.

"Because of that" he said, pointing at the thing he was now holding. Eddie looked down at it and he flinched.

"What... what is... is this a joke? How do you...?" in his hands, there was a rag doll that looked exactly like him. It was a mini Eddie perfectly shaped, with the clothes he was wearing at the moment, a pink shirt and red shorts with a tiny rainbow on the side. It had two small eyes made with brown buttons and a red smile.

"It's not a joke. This is one of my mother's doll. Well, her sister's, actually. It's very old. As soon as I saw you I knew you looked familiar, and I immediately came back home to take it to you. Impressive, isn't it?"

Eddie looked closely at the doll, it was really a perfect replica of himself. "Impressive" he agreed.

"It's almost as cute as you are" Richie commented nonchalantly. Eddie tensed at the words.

"I'm not... what are you... I'm not cute! Cute is a thing girls are!" he replied bitterly, and for a moment he thought he just got caught. This boy certainly had to have read his thoughts, and he said it only to annoy him.

"Boys can be cute too, I think. You certainly are" he said, matter of factly. Eddie opened his mouth to reply, but the kid was quicker. "It's probably because of your mom. She's really a dream catch, isn't she? I bet she's good in bed" he smirked.

Eddie became red as he pushed him, with wide eyes. "What? Stop it! It's gross!"

"Why, don't you think your mama is the most beautiful creature in the universe?" Richie joked, he didn't look affected by the push Eddie just gave him.

"Of course I don't! She's my mother! Yuck, you're making me sick" he said, disgust filled his voice. Besides, his mother couldn't be the most beautiful creature in the universe, if not for everything else, even only because Bill was.

Richie shook his head, amused. "Well, what's your name, cute boy? You know mine but I don't know yours, and I would like to, we're going to be neighbors, after all. Plus, I need you to get to your mom"

Eddie looked at him with a frown, but answered nonetheless. "I'm Eddie" he said, finally offering Richie a small smile. He smiled back widely.

"Eddie, dear" the words made Eddie frown again but also something else that he couldn't quite place. "Come with me, I'll show you around!"

The boy looked anxiously around and held the doorframe tightly with the hand that was holding the knife. "I don't know, Richie. My mother will kill me if she finds out, she wants me to stay home. Plus, she asked me not to talk to you ever"

"I know, I've heard that"

"Yes, because you were spying on me"

"I was spying on your mom, actually. I told you, she's a legit snack"

"Please, don't, it's really really gross" Eddie replied weakly.

"Come oooon Eds!"

"It's Eddie, not Eds" he said flatly.

The two boys exchanged an hesitant look for a moment, then Eddie groaned and rolled his eyes. "Okay, but we have to be quick. I don't want my mother to find out"

"Yes!" Richie cheered, and Eddie failed at hiding a smile. He quickly went back to the kitchen to put down the knife, he put his aspirator in his pocket and held his Eddie doll tighter, glancing a curious look at it as they walked outside.

"You can keep it, if you want. I think it's meant to be yours" Richie said.

"What if your mother finds out that you gave it away?"

"She won't. This is her sister's, and she never enters her room, not ever. She disappeared when they were both young, she doesn't like to talk about it. They lived in your house at the time, you know"

"Oh. I'm sorry"

"It doesn't matter, it happened many years ago" the boy shrugged, then offered him his hand. "Are you coming or not?"

After a moment of hesitation, Eddie took it. "Let's go" he said, and found himself fight a smile once again. He wasn't used to hold hands with anyone, and the feeling was weird, but good. He sometimes wondered how holding Bill's hand was like, but he never did it because he thought it was weird. You don't hold hands with other boys, do you? It's not quite normal. Holding Richie's hand did felt weird, indeed, but not in the way he was expecting. He felt the same knot in the stomach he used to feel when he and Bill went swimming togheter at the Quarry. It was one of the best feelings Eddie had ever experienced, and he took it as a good sign.

They started walking towards the other houses, and Richie explained, patiently. "This is my home" he said, gesturing towards the house in the middle, the one that looked well cared of. "You feel free to come here whenever you want. I have a lot of comics, we can read them togheter if you want. I used to have videogames, too, but my parents took them away because they said I was wasting too much time with them. They work a lot and they're not often home, but I don't think they would mind your presence even if they are"

Eddie chose not to explain the kid that his mother would never allow him to go do whatever at someone else's place after what happened with Bill, because he didn't want Richie to feel guilty or awkward for asking. Besides, he could sneak out of the house or spent time with him when his mother wasn't at home.

"This other one is harder to explain" Richie said, frowning. They were in front of the house on the right, now. "The first floor is Miss Spink's and Miss Forcible's. They're two good friends that never got married and live together to have some company. They're quite nice, but the tea they make is really gross, and they have a problems with dogs, you'll see. They say they can read the future, which is fun but I don't think it's true, actually"

"Is it possible?" Eddie asked, eyes wide with wonder.

"What? Reading the future? I don't think so. But maybe you should ask them if you're interested" Richie said, shrugging his shoulders.

"No, I mean... never get married and live with your best friend. Sounds like a dream to me, but I don't think my mother would be happy if I did"

"Well, I guess it's possible since they did it, but I don't think it's so cool. My mother says that it makes them queers"

"_Queers_? What does it mean?"

"I don't know, but it must be a bad thing, at least my mom thinks so" Richie explained. "The second floor is Mr Bobo's. He's the weirdest"

"Weirder than the queers?" Eddie asked.

"I guess so, yes. You hear the music, right?" Eddie nodded, the band music played almost inaudible but he could hear it if he payed enough attention. "He's hosting a mice circus. He has a lot of mice, but I don't think they actually can do many tricks. He feeds them with a lot of cheese though, and his flat smells. Like, a lot"

Eddie curled up his nose in a disgusted grimace, and Richie chuckled. "We're not done yet, there's another place I want to show you, then we're done" he said, walking towards the woods.

"Are you sure it is safe?" Eddie asked, looking at the woods in concern, stopping suddenly.

"One hundred percent, I love playing there, I do it every day, trust me" he said, and pulled him forward, still holding his hand.

They started walking again, and Richie looked at his arm with a frown. "You broke your arm" he said, filling the silence.

"Well, obviously" Eddie said flatly, and expected him to ask how it happened. Instead, the thing the boy said immediately after surprised him.

"What does it mean?"

"What?"

"That. Is it a band, or something? I like music but I never heard of it. Sounds neat"

It took a few seconds for Eddie to understand what he was talking about. "Oh" he flushed. On his cast there was only one word, written in black. _LOSER__._ On the S, pretty visible, a bright red _V. _Eddie had to admit it was kind of aesthetic, he could see how Richie found it neat, somehow.

"It's not... it's not the name of a band. It's just... a girl wrote it after I broke my arm and it was, well, embarrassing. So I tried to change it in something else but it didn't quite work"

"Oh. I'm sorry I asked"

"It's not a big deal"

Richie frowned, than grinned immediately after. "It may not be a big deal, but it certainly is a big di-"

"Okay, stop! It doesn't even make sense!" Eddie laughed, trying to sound at least a bit annoyed.

"For me it does!"

They walked in silence for a while, they followed the main path in the woods, the one Eddie saw from the car when he arrived in the land. The woods didn't look so bad now that he was holding Richie's hand, the other didn't let go of the doll that resembled him.

"Ta da!" Richie almost shouted, when they were near the well Eddie remembered noticing from the car window. "This is my favourite place to play! Come see! It's very cool. It's supposed to be so deep that if you fell to the bottom and looked up," the boy explained, leaning dangerously towards the hole, and Eddie squeezed his hand scared he would really fall down there, "you'd see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day"

"Yes, very cool Richie, now step back please, you're making me anxious. Plus the water under there is surely hideous, it must be grey water. Do you know what it is? It's basically pee and shit, that's what it is. Have you... have you ever heard about staph infections?" he said, nervously pulling him closer.

"What is it Eds? Already scared about lil ol' me?" the boy asked grinning, but he finally came one step back in a safer spot.

"It's Eddie, it's not Eds, I already told you. And I'm not scared for you specifically but what you're doing is really dangerous"

Richie shrugged with a smile and let go of his hand. Eddie felt his palm suddenly very cold and whished the boy didn't do it. "Anyway, the well is pretty good, right? Not nearly long as my wang but pretty cool nonetheless" Richie looked at him with a cocky grin and Eddie rolled his eyes.

"Why are you always so gross?"

"Did you mean _charming_?"

Eddie shook his head and quickly changed subject. He didn't know why but that conversation was starting to make him feel awkward. "You say this is your favourite place to play, who do you play with?"

The boy's smile faltered for a moment. "I only play with Stanley. He's... he's kind of my best friend"

"Is there another boy right here? Or is he one of your school friends?" Eddie asked curiously. He would love to meet some other friends, he was always quite lonely and enjoyed company of the other boys.

"It's not exactly like that... oh, look! He's coming! I'll show you!" he said, pointing somewhere behind Eddie's back.

Eddie turned his back towards the direction Richie gestured, but he didn't see anything. "Where? There's no one there"

"What do you mean? Look! Here he is!" Richie said, and a small golden bird rested on his raised finger.

"I only see this small bird, there isn't anyone else"

"I know! Eddie, meet Stanley. Stanley, Eddie"

"You named your pet bird Stanley? It's kinda odd"

Richie looked outraged. "I didn't name him, and he is not mine! It's just his name"

"If it-"

"_He_" Richie corrected

"If he's not yours who did tell you his name?"

"No one told me, but I didn't give it to him, either. It's just his name. I just know" the boy replied.

"You know you're weird, right?" Eddie asked, it was intended like a joke, but Richie looked affected by the words.

"I know. Everybody told me that at least once" he sighed, as his face fell istantly.

"It's not a bad thing, at least I hope so. I'm weird, too" Eddie replied, hoping that would make it. It looked like it did.

"Are you?" Richie asked, voiced filled with hope.

But Eddie didn't have time to reply because the bird, Stanley, started chirping furiously and flew in a flash of golden feathers towards Eddie, screeching and pecking his doll like it was some kind of threat. Eddie yelped and held it next to his chest. "Stop! Stop! You're making my fingers bleed!"

Richie carefully grabbed it in his hand, and the bird pecked him too, making him flinch in surprise. "Ouch! Stan! What the hell? I'm sorry, he usually isn't like that"

After a few second Stanley got quiet, but he kept looking at the doll in Eddie's hands, with what would have been rage, if birds were capable to feel something like rage obviously.

"I think your bird doesn't like me"

"It's not my bird. I'm sorry for your hands"

"No big deal" Richie opened his mouth, but Eddie was quicker "Don't talk about your big dick, please. I don't want to hear it" Richie closed his mouth and smiled at him.

Eddie cleared his throat and tipped his foot nervously on the ground. "Well, I think my mom will be home soon and she has to find me home where she left me, so..."

"Oh, yes, right. I think I'll stay here and play for a while, until they call me for dinner. Unless you want me to walk you home"

The offer made Eddie's heart ache in a way he wasn't used to, and that worried him a bit. He furrowed his brows, trying to understand why he was suddenly feeling so weird, then said "That won't be necessary, thank you"

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?" the boy asked hesitantly.

"Only if my mother won't be home, and I think she won't"

"See ya then, Eds! And kiss your mom good night for me" Richie winked. He looked relieved.

"Don't call me Eds" he said, but he was smiling.

The walk in the woods was way scarier than the one before, and he wished he agreed to Richie's offer. He knew it would have felt safer with him. He took his aspirator from his pocket and triggered it. The familiar bittersweet taste of the medicine reassured him somehow.

When he heard a rattle noise in front of him, he flinched. He squeezed his eyes trying to see what was moving on the ground, making the leaves crack and shaking the grass blades.

He looked at the thing with wide eyes, afraid it could be a snake, he knew he would have screamed if it was, but when it was near enough and Eddie was about to jump on the nearest tree despite his broken arm, a small pet mouse with fluffy white fur and a weird marching band hat appeared in front of him.

"Oh. Hi, little one" Eddie said, in a sigh of relief. "You must be one of Mr. Bobo's mice"

The mouse obviously didn't reply, even if it looked like he understood what Eddie was saying. He was holding a crumpled piece of paper in his mouth. He stood on his back paws and looked at Eddie directly in the eyes.

"Do you want me to take that?" Eddie asked. The mouse stayed silent, but the glance he shot him with was pretty eloquent. He kneeled next to him and took it hesitantly. As soon as he stood back up, the mouse disappeared in the woods.

Eddie opened slowly the shred of paper, curious. This was one of the weirdest things that had ever happened to him.

_Don't_ _go through the door._

A cold feeling of freezing horror ran down his spine. He held the Eddie Doll tighter and decided to walk back home without turning back.


	2. The Other World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "My other mother?" Eddie asked, starting to feel cornered between the woman near the table and the man next to the doorframe.  
"I'm your other mother, Eddie bear. And this is your new father, Robert Grey. You can call him Bob" not his mother explained, calmly.  
"I have a new father, now?" Eddie asked. This had to be a dream, it was the only explanation. His father died from cancer many years before and he didn't look at all like this man.  
"Of course you have. In this place you can have whatever you want. You have a new father, you're normal now" other mather said, and her words made Eddie feel better. "You don't need that ugly medicines anymore. You can eat gluten, and sweets, and you can go play outside with your friend."

When his mother finally got back home, Eddie lied to her and told her he had been in the house the whole afternoon. She fussed over his bleeding hands, Stanley's fault, and the boy told her it must be his dust allergy, so she fed him some antihistamines.

They ate plain rice for dinner, as his mother always insisted for him not to have gluten, even if he wasn't intolerant, and when he asked her if he could have some sweets she bought for herself in town, she replied as always: "Absolutely not"

He showed her what room he chose during the afternoon and she agreed. She helped him make his bed with his hypoallergenic sheets. She kissed him good night _"Kiss your mom good night, for me!" _and went straight to bed.

He put his Eddie Doll on the chair near the bed, next to the picture of his friend.

"I miss you, Bill" he said with a sigh, closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep.

It was hard to do. The house was pretty noisy, and the noises weren't relaxing peaceful sounds like ocean waves or bird tweets, they were more like shrieking doors, weird clattering and watch ticking, even if he hadn't spotted a single watch in the house that day. It was terrifying.

He couldn't sleep also because he was thinking about today. Today he said goodbye to his best and only friend, and he was already aching to see him again. Today he made a new friend, too, and that was quite cool.

Richie was nothing Eddie had ever known. He was nothing like him, he wasn't always anxious, he didn't have an overbearing mother, and he wasn't ill with a billion illnesses. But he wasn't like Bill, either. He wasn't naturally charming, he didn't look like every hero from every action movie wrapped up into one person, and he certainly hadn't Bill's clear green eyes. He certainly wasn't like Bowers, mean, evil, violent and utterly stupid.

Richie was loud and inappropriate. He was quite goofy and weird, like, who does talk with a bird like that? And most of all he talked _a lot_. He never stopped talking and Eddie found it exhausting.

But he was a good friend, Eddie could tell, he was kind and intelligent, and when he took his hand earlier Eddie had felt as weird good as when he was with Bill sometimes, and that was too good to be true. Everything considered Eddie thought Richie was good enough to make his summer less miserable, even if he definitely wished he talked less.

He was deep in this kind of thoughts, still lacking sleep, when he lazily opened his eyes to turn on his right side, careful not to harm his plastered arm. He looked to the chair next to the bed and lingered his sleepy eyes on the picture, when he frowned. There was something wrong with the chair, but what?

It got him when he swifted his eyes towards the door. Every muscle in his body tensed, as he quickly sat on the bed, his back leaning on the headboard. His hand automatically flew to his inhaler, and he breathed two times, trying to calm his heart rate.

The Eddie doll was sitting still on the floor, next to the doorframe. Its button eyes looked emptily at him. It looked lifeless as any doll should be, but Eddie was hundred percent sure he had left it on the chair near the bed at the beginning of the night, and the door was at least five feet far from that.

"If this is a joke it's not funny" Eddie squeaked, but why his mother would have pranked him like that? She wasn't that kind of person. And he doubted Richie had sneaked into his house at night just to move his goddamn Eddie Doll.

With his heart beating crazily fast in his chest, Eddie slowly got out of the bed, and put his slippers on. He slowly approached the doll on the floor and took it. When he was kneeling to take it, he saw a faint light coming through the keyhole.

_"Maybe ma inadvertently left the light on in the kitchen. It's better if I shut it off" _he thought, trying to calm down. He put the doll back in the chair and then proceeded to open the door. Yes, there was definitely a light switched on downstairs. He thought about waking his mother up and ask her to turn the light off herself, but that was definitely a bad idea.

_"Don't be like that Eddie, it's your house. It's locked. Your mother would get real mad if you woke her up only because she left the light on in the kitchen. Man up and go switch it off" _he thought, hesitantly stepping outside of the room.

He desperately wished there was someone with him he could hold hands with. His mother, Bill, Richie, he didn't care (even though Bill would be definitely awesome).

He slowly walked down the stairs, heavy breathing, holding his inhaler like his life depended on it. When he was on the first floor, the first thing he noticed was that the light didn't come from the kitchen.

_"Weird" _he thought, as he followed it, shaking in fear. He turned round the corner and realised the light came from somewhere near the living room. When he finally saw it, his heart nearly stopped.

The locked door he wasn't able to open the day before, the one he didn't have the keys for, was wide open now. He slowly walked towards it and glanced inside. It lead to a long dark corridor, at the opposite end of which was another door, that looked like had a room full of light behind it.

_"Don't go through the door" _he thought, remembering the advice the tiny mouse handed him a few hours prior. But since when he took advices from mice? And he couldn't go back to bed anyway, there was no way he would be able to sleep now. He thought about waking up his mom, but what was he supposed to tell her? "Heya ma, I just woke you at three in the fucking morning because I found a previously locked door now open in our living room?" That would be stupid.

He tried to think about Bill. Bill would have got in without thinking about it twice. Bill would have loved to explore what it was about. Bill wouldn't have been scared. So he stepped in the corridor, trying to stop his hands from shaking so bad.

It was cold. Much colder than in the rest of the house. He left the door open, just in case, and walked hesitantly all the way down. The door at the end of it was open, too. There wasn't only light on the other side of it, but he heard nice music too and a wonderful smell of tasty food.

He stepped inside, looking anxiously around. The room looked exactly like his living room, but it was clean. No dust, no spider nets, nothing. The light was very bright and made everything look neater than the living room the other side of the corridor.

"Eddie bear? Is this you?" a voice, his mother's voice, came from what it would have been the kitchen if it was his house, and he felt istantly relieved.

"Ma? Are you here, too?" he asked, racing towards the kitchen. When he finally got in, he held his breath in surprise. Sonia was turned on her back, he couldn't see her in the face, but it was clear that she was baking. She put what it looked like a cake out of the oven, then started to carefully cover it with pink frosting. The table in front of him was perfectly clean, no dust nor spiders in sight. It was laden with delicious and abundant food, and it smelled so good Eddie wanted to cry.

"What are you doing?" he asked in disbelief.

"You must be hungry, Eddie bear. Why don't you eat some?" the woman offered, and Eddie couldn't believe at what she was saying.

He looked at her and was about to ask if she was in her right mind, when his mother suddenly turned to face him and Eddie reluctantly chocked a scream. He stepped back whining, a worried grimace on his face.

"You're not my mother. Who... what are you?" he asked with a shaky voice.

The woman in front of him looked almost exactly like his mother. She was dressed like her, she was fat like her, she had the same glasses, and his curly hair looked exactly the same.

The woman in front of him looked almost exactly like his mother. But instead of a pair of brown little eyes, she had two black shiny buttons sewed directly on her face.

"She is your _other mother_" a high pitched yet surprisingly low voice said.

Eddie jumped, startled. Coming from the living room there stood a man. Eddie had never seen him before. He was tall and lanky, he had a too wide and unnatural smile, too big white clothes and two blue buttons instead of his eyes.

"My other mother?" Eddie asked, starting to feel cornered between the woman near the table and the man next to the doorframe.

"I'm your other mother, Eddie bear. And this is your new father, Robert Grey. You can call him Bob" not his mother explained, calmly.

"I have a new father, now?" Eddie asked. This had to be a dream, it was the only explanation. His father died from cancer many years before and he didn't look at all like this man.

"Of course you have. In this place you can have whatever you want. You have a new father, you're _normal_ now" other mather said, and her words made Eddie feel better. "You don't need that ugly medicines anymore. You can eat gluten, and sweets, and you can go play outside with your friend. You should see Mr. Bobo's mice marching band too, he's working on some really cool tricks lately, you'd love them"

"Are you sure I can eat all of this?" Eddie looked uncertain, but he was slowly walking towards the table. If it was a dream, it wouldn't hurt to eat a bit, it all looked delicious. And if it wasn't, then he was the luckiest kid in the world.

Bob Grey nodded, smiling and looking at him with an unreadable grin.

"I've never seen mice tricks before"

"Really? You're going to _love_ them! Mr. Bobo is so good at it! We all work in the circus, you know that?" the man said, chuckling in a way that Eddie didn't like, but he sat at the table anyway.

"I am the dancing clown" he cheered, "and your other mother is the Fat Lady"

"Well, that makes sense" Eddie muttered, looking hesitantly at the food in front of him. There was a huge plate full of lasagne that looked so good he was starting to salivate.

"Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are our acrobats, they're really cool, too. You should ask Richie to take you at their place sometimes"

Eddie tensed and looked at him in surprise. "There's an other Richie, too?"

It was other mother who answered this time. "Of course. But this one is better. He's our mime, he doesn't like to talk much. He's not gonna annoy you with some bad jokes"

"How do you know..."

"She's your other mother. She knows everything about you, kiddo" Bob said, happily.

"Now eat, Eddie bear. You'll be able to see him later.

And Eddie did.

Everything was surprisingly delicious. He ate and ate for what it felt like ages. They had everything he ever craved for and everything his true mother never let him eat. Pizza, fried chicken, roast beefs, fries, and God, the chocolate cake with strawberry frosting was the most wonderful thing he had ever eaten in his whole life.

When he was happily satisfied and he had enough small talk with his other parents, the bell rang and startled him.

"It has to be him, go dear!" other mother said. "I'll wash the dishes with your father"

_"If it's not a dream this is the best day of my life"_ Eddie thought, standing up and walking towards the front door after a quick "thank you ma". She didn't ask him to kiss her like his mother always did and Eddie appreciated that.

When he opened the door, he was surprised at first. Thinking about it, it was only logical that Richie too would have had buttons in the place of his eyes, but it made him frown nonetheless, at first. That was the only thing that made this other Richie different from the real one. Well, that, and the fact that this one didn't already say hello as Real Richie probably would have done by now. He was stunningly like him, like a perfect twin, and he even wore the same clothes from that afternoon.

Despite being so similar, there was something off with him, something that Eddie couldn't quite place at the moment.

"Hi, Richie" Eddie said, and other Richie smiled widely at him.

"What shall we do now?" he asked, and the boy took his hand, softly pulling him. The smile didn't falter on his lips.

"Uhm, okay, I guess" Eddie chuckled, and realised he missed the weight of his friend's hand in his since the moment he let go near the well, hours before. The odd feeling he had towards this other Richie faded immediately as he smiled back, walking hand in hand with him to the house on the right.

"Do you fancy going to the second floor, Rich? I really want to see the mice!"

Other Richie nodded vigorously, and pulled him on the back of the house, where some old stairs lead directly upstairs. When they were at the front door, the band music was loud and Eddie noticed that the house looked way more cared of than the one he saw the past day.

Other Richie rang the bell and it opened by itself the moment later. Once they could see inside, the music was louder than before, and Eddie's jaw dropped in surprise.

That was the craziest house Eddie had ever seen. It was colorful, it looked like a rainbow got stuck in and decided just to settle there. There were colorful party flags everywhere, music instruments on the floor, and a dozen of food stands, every one of them in a different colour. There was the corn dog stand coloured in bright yellow, and the stand for cotton candy too, it was pink. A green toffee apple stand smelled like pure sugar, but the biggest and red one was what captured Eddie's sight the most.

"Pop corn!" he cheered, and ran to get some. Other Richie let go of his hand, and Eddie was surprised to find out that he didn't feel that cold feeling at the loss like previously during the day.

"Do you want some, too?" he asked, and other Richie nodded. It was a bit weird because of the eyes, but his smile was heartwarming like the original one and Eddie was enjoying his silent company quite a lot. It was a comfortable silence, not an awkward one, and it didn't look like he was expecting for Eddie to do or say something, that was reassuring. Plus he was sure he wasn't going to say weird stuff about Eddie's mom or his own wang.

Eddie liked this other Richie a lot, he decided. He filled one huge red cup with white strings with popcorns, and approached the only door in the room. It was other Richie who opened it, and gestured Eddie to get in. He obliged instantly, smile never leaving his lips.

What he saw in the next room made him hold his breath in surprise. A tall man with big blond mustache and two dark buttons on his face, dressed like a lion tamer, stood in the middle of the room, with his arms both up. He was surrounded by hundreds of pet withe mice, with little pink buttons for the eyes. They were jumping in synch and... playing music. Actual music, with tiny little band instruments, trumpets, cornets, bugles, drums, cymbals, triangles, violas, cellos, and even tiny harps.

The man was gesturing like a conductor, and the mice followed him, their little tails and little band hats jumping with them.

Richie sat on the floor and gestured him to do the same. He did, and he sat so close their knees and shoulders were slightly brushing against one another. Eddie put the popcorn cup on the floor between them, and other Richie started to grab some and eat them. Eddie looked at him expectantly and he gave him a thumbs up.

"Welcome to the Great Mice Show of Mr Sergei Alexander Bobinsky! This are the great mice and I am the amazing Bobinsky! But you call me Mister Bobo because, amazing, I already know that I am" the man said in a hard russian accent.

Eddie stared fascinated at the mice, who suddenly changed song after a deep gesture of Mr Bobo. The melody was fast and happy, and the mice were entertaining and surprisingly good at it. Eyes never leaving them, he blindly reached for some popcorns, his hand brushing against other Richie's, who apparently did the exact same thing at the same time.

They both exchanged a worried look for a moment, then the boy shrugged his shoulders apologetically. Eddie felt like his hand had just set on fire.

He _definitely _liked this Richie more.

They sat like that on the floor for nearly half an hour, enjoying the music and the show and not saying a word. When the little marching band finished the umpteenth song of the day, and they had already finished their popcorns, Richie patted Eddie's shoulder and stood up.

"Come back when you please, good boy! Do svidaniya!" Mr Bobo shouted, as the boys started walking away.

Eddie greeted him, and other Richie waved his hand. As soon as they were outside of the house, Eddie heard a loud high pitched shout. "Richieeeeeee!"

The boy shrugged his shoulders and pointed his ring finger towards his own house.

"Oh. Yeah. I got it. You have to go. I'll just wander round for a walk and then I'll go home then"

Other Richie had an unrecognisable look on his face, since he didn't have his eyes, but his weak smile said _"I'm sorry"_ eloquently enough.

"Not big deal" Eddie replied, and found himself thinking that he missed the "not big deal but certainly big dick" comeback. 

As soon as other Richie walked away sheepishly, Eddie sighed loudly and realised in that exact moment that he didn't used his inhaler once since he entered this whole new world. He hoped with all his strength this wasn't a dream but just a different reality a few steps away from his bedroom.

In this world he had a father, an alive one, even if he looked a bit creepy. His other mother baked cakes for him and he could eat everything he wanted. He didn't need his aspirator. He could watch entertaining shows every day for free, eating popcorns with his friend. And other Richie was different from the real one, but his presence was relaxing and never annoying, two things that couldn't be said about Real Richie.

He started walking towards the woods to clear his mind, he was afraid that if it really was a dream he was going to wake up soon, when suddenly someone grabbed his wrist with one hand and covered his mouth with the other.

This someone pushed him behind a tree, Eddie tried to scream but he was still pushing a hand on his lips. Now he clearly saw him, it was a boy around his age, only a bit taller than him, blonde curls on his head and two surprisingly human dark eyes. No buttons in sight. He let go of Eddie's wrist and brought a finger on his lips to shush him. Eddie gulped, but didn't try to struggle, so the boy let go of his mouth, too. Before he could say anything, the mysterious boy taked first.

"Eddie, what the hell are you doing here?" he snapped in a whisper.

"What... how... how do you know my name?"

"Isn't it obvious? Richie introduced us yesterday. I am Stanley. I thought I warned you about the doll, I made it pretty clear. I even sent you one of the mice!"

"You're Stanley? Richie's pet bird?" Eddie asked, shocked.

"I'm not Richie's pet bird. I'm my own bird. I'm not even a proper bird to be exact!"

Eddie blinked at him in confusion.

"Listen. It doesn't want me to show up here, but I had to. I had to warn you. You have to get out of here! Now! And never come back!"

"What... who? Who doesn't want you to be here?"

"_It_. Pennywise. The dancing clown. It told you his name was Bob, he always does, and it probably told you that it is your father, but that too is not true. It's a monster, he only wants to steal your eyes and your soul. Don't give them to it. It will take you life and all you are and all you care for, and it will leave you with nothing but mist and fog. It'll take your joy. And one day you'll wake up and your eyes and soul will have gone. You'll be a thing no more than a dream on waking, or a memory of something forgotten" the boy said, in a deep voice that scared Eddie and left him speechless for a few seconds.

"What are you talking about? Here I can have whatever I want! Why would I leave something like that?" he finally managed to say, even if the words of the boy affected him.

Stanley shook his head and looked at him condescendingly. "Whatever you want? I don't want whatever I want and so don't you. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I got everything I ever wanted just like that, and it didn't mean anything? What then?"

"I don't know. I guess you'd just enjoy it"

"You won't be able to enjoy anything once it's finished with you. It will kill you and worse"

"But my other mother, other Richie..."

"That thing is not your mother. And it isn't Richie, either. I don't know what they are, I don't care. But that thing that resembles a boy is not my best friend. And you shouldn't trust anything that speaks to you that has not a pair of eyes"

"And why should I trust you?"

"Because I've been there! I lived where you lived, many years ago. I hated my life, I hated my parents. They wanted me to be stronger, to man up, but I didn't want to. I was a loser, I still am. Then I found the doll. It was exactly like me, it looked like an amazing coincidence to me. It uses the doll to spy on you. To see what's wrong with your life. And it can make it better for you at night. When it asked me to sew the buttons in my skull and to take out my eyes I couldn't make it, I refused. So Pennywise offered me a deal. We made a bet, and I lost. I was able to go back to the real world, but I wasn't a boy anymore. I couldn't talk, I couldn't walk, I couldn't explain to my parents what happened, nothing. I don't even know how much time passed since. The only true company I ever had after was Richie. I think he can sense I'm something else, somehow. He called me Stanley the first time he saw me fly on a branch in front of his house. I don't know how he does it, but he does"

Eddie looked at him with wide eyes. His story didn't make sense of course, but nothing there did. He looked around to see if there was something off place that could prove Stanley's point, but everything seemed okay, even better than okay. The sky was a midnight intense blue, and Eddie could see trees and, beyond the trees, green hills, which faded on the horizon into purples and grays. The sky had never seemed so sky, the world had never seemed so world... nothing, he thought, had ever been so interesting. There was no way that place could be evil like Stanley said.

"I'll think about it" Eddie said. "I'll think about it, but I don't trust you. I don't even know if you're the real Stanley"

The boy huffed, than bit his lips. He looked like he was talking about what to say. "Okay. It's fair, I guess. But if you really don't trust me, don't trust any of them either. No one. And please, don't trust _It_"

Eddie looked at him. He knew he sounded completely honest, voice firm and eyes clear. "I don't trust them, I don't. I'm not even sure that it's not a dream"

"But this _is _a dream. Only, more like a nightmare. And far too real" he whispered, and Eddie gulped. "You have to go back inside now, or they'll suspect something's going on. Go, and don't tell anyone we had a talk"

"Not a word, you're safe with me" he said honestly. He didn't know why, but he somehow felt it was important. He left the tree they were holding behind, glancing a last worried look, and walked home. God, he was so tired. He opened the front door and got inside.

"Back in the house already, dear?" other mother said, sitting on the couch.

"Yes, Richie had to go home, I had a walk and now I'm going to bed"

"Sounds like the perfect plan, Eddie bear" not Sonia said, standing up. Her button eyes shined under the light of the chandelier. "I'll walk you to bed"

"Oh, thanks ma" he muttered. He went towards the door and the corridor that lead to his Real World, to his Real Home, and other mother asked, in concern

"Where are you going, sweetie?"

"I'm going home"

"This is your home now" she said, softly.

_"That thing is not your mother" _he remembered Stan words and gulped. He followed her upstairs, only because he knew he couldn't do anything else.

"Where is Bob?" he asked shyly as they walked towards his other room.

"Your father is outside. He's chasing a bird. It didn't let him sleep last night and he doesn't want that to happen again, not now when you're here with us"

The words sent chill to Eddie's spine.

They entered his other room, and just as the rest of the house, it was way better than his real bedroom back at home. The bed looked brand new, and the sheets were way comfier than his hypoallergenic ones. The wardrobe was clean and bigger than the original, and Eddie was sure that if he opened it he would have found the fanciest clothes.

"I'll leave you alone, now. I guess you have something to say to your friend before you sleep"

"What do you mean?" the boy asked in confusion. Other mother gestured him towards the bed and the boy looked closer. Instead of the cranky chair, next to the bed, there was a proper bedside table. On it, his picture of his best friend.

"Heya, Eddie! Miss me already?" a voice came from the picture, where an almost perfect replica of Bill, his Bill, was waving his hand at him. Eddie didn't even hear other Sonia close the door behind her.

"Bill! How... how?" Eddie asked, grabbing the picture and jumping on the bed with the biggest grin. He barely noticed the fact that he didn't stutter. This should have been a renewed and better version of him, just like with Richie. 

"Your father guessed you would have liked an old friend to keep you company, so he did this!" other Bill said from the picture, his perfect green eyes were now two black buttons, but he was smiling and he was talking to him, and for Eddie it was enough. All the things Stanley told him vanished in a moment, they didn't matter anymore. Bill was with him now, for real.

"I can't believe it! That's so cool! How long are you staying?"

"As long as you want me to be, I guess"

"Forever!"

Other Bill laughed. It was one of Eddie's favourite things in the world "Not if you get tired of me!"

"Don't be silly, I would never get tired of you, ever!"

"I'm sorry I made your mother move away for the summer. It's my fault"

"It's not. I already told you that. It was about me being reckless and goofy and my mother being a psychopath"

"Well, this other mother looks okay to me. You could just stay here, and we'll talk like this every day"

"I really hope this is not a dream" Eddie sighed, putting the picture bed on the bedside table. "I gotta sleep now, I'm exhausted"

"Good night, Eddie. Remember, here you can have me as long as you want me to"

"Good night, Bill" he whispered, and he closed his eyes, finally falling asleep.


	3. Eyes never lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Things were normal before. Better than normal, that's what I remember, at least. But after that, my mom completely lost it. She started to worry I would leave her like dad did. She was afraid of me getting hurt, or sick. She started not letting me play out with my friends, then she forced me to stop eating everything that wasn't plain rice and boiled vegetables, basically. And she started to feed me with meds. That's when I got asthma, I was eight. Since then things are pretty much the same. Add the fact that I'm weak and you understand what happened"  
"But you are not" Richie replied, flatly.  
"Not what?"  
"Weak"  
"Yes, I am. I broke my arm in a three feet fall. And I always fell ill"  
"You sneaked out today"  
"Yes, I did"  
"And you were playing outside when you fell, even if you just said your mother doesn't want you to"  
"Yes, but..."  
"You're not weak"

When Eddie blinked his eyes open, the first thing he did was grabbing his friend's picture on the chair next to the bed.

"Bill? Are you still here?" Eddie asked, and then realised where he was. The sheets he was covered with were the cotton white hypoallergenic ones that his actual mother bought him for the trip. The fantastic wardrobe he saw the night before was now old and smelly. Bill's green clear eyes looked at him from the picture, perfectly still. The Eddie doll was next to it, just like the day before. There was so much dust his lungs were already wheezing.

The boy groaned loudly, rolling his eyes up. "I knew it. It was too good to be true"

He heard a knock on his bedroom door that startled him. "Eddie bear? Are you awake?"

"Yes, ma" he replied, triggering his aspirator to calm his breath. Sonia, the real one, opened his bedroom door and smiled at him.

"Good morning sweetheart," Eddie grimaced at the use of words, "I'm going to town to settle our new phone line, finally. I asked the neighbours' son to come here and clean the kitchen and the living room for five bucks, I think he'll come around ten. Be sure to be in your bedroom when he comes, he won't notice you if you'll be quiet. Remember not to talk to him, okay?"

Eddie sighed as he jumped off the bed. "Okay, mommy. I'll go have breakfast now, then I'll come back here and pretend I don't exist" he answered, perfectly aware of the fact that he wasn't going to follow her instructions.

"You're a good boy, Eddie bear. Your plain tea is on the kitchen table. Don't drink it if it's too hot or it'll burn your tongue. Don't add any lemon either, you know it'll be bad for your stomach"

Eddie nodded reluctantly, but forced himself to smile. Sonia looked like she bought it, so it must have been at least averagely good. He was used to sheepish untruthful smiles.

"See you later, honey" Sonia said, and walked to the bed to press a wet cheek on Eddie's forehead before leaving.

He waited for the front door to slam closed and put on his slippers, going downstairs. He passed by the locked door on the living room and all the memories of the past night came back to his mind. With his sleepy head, he put the hand on it sighed. He felt again that feeling of deep and utter discomfort like the day before as he breathed heavily and slowly pulled down the handle.

A sudden noise made him jump in fear, he let out a choked scream.

"You okay, Eds?" he heard from outside the front door, and Eddie groaned for the second time that day, and the day started less then five minutes before. Not a good start indeed.

_"Other Richie would never do something like that" _he thought bitterly, as he tried to open the door he was standing in front of. It didn't work.

"Of course" Eddie complained, "it was too good to be true" he muttered, slowly walking to open the front door and let Richie inside.

"Eddie my love!" Richie yelled with the brightest smile, as soon as he opened the door. "Have you had any good chucks later?"

Eddie frowned, not knowing how to respond but Richie didn't mind as he stepped closer and pinched Eddie's cheek, the other hand messing with his hair. "Cute, cute, cute! All sleepy head and pillow face!"

"That's cause I thought you were coming at ten! It's like, six thirty in the morning? And don't shout, my mom could hear us"

"I saw her leave off the gate one minute ago. And it's nine, by the way"

"Well, why are you here if it's nine, then?"

"You're kinda grumpy in the morning, did someone told you that yet?" Richie asked, but he didn't look upset nor mad. "I'm here because I wanted to see you" the words made Eddie stop breathing, and he seemed to realise what he just said because he added "and because if we finish this off quickly we could go to Miss Spink's and Miss Forcible's place, they invited us to have some tea at noon. Even if I wouldn't recommend you to drink that. It sucks"

"_We _finish this off? Aren't you supposed to clean up for money? Who's gonna give me money for that? Plus, I have a broken arm, I'm basically useless"

"You saying you won't help this dear friend of yours cleaning up your old big house? You're gonna leave me all alone? You wound me, Eds!"

"Well I won't certainly help you if you call me Eds" he said flatly.

Richie grinned and crushed him in a hug. "I always knew you were a good pal, ol' friend"

Eddie rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile a little. "God, I wish you were the other Richie" he muttered, when the boy was letting go of him and finally entering his house.

"The other Richie? You already cheating on me, Eds?"

Eddie decided not to mind the choice of words. This was just Richie, after all. He joked like that. "It's just a dream I had last night. You were there, too, but you didn't say a word. I think you were mute, actually"

"It doesn't sound like me at all" Richie said, as they started looking for cleaning products.

"Guess not" Eddie shrugged, nonchalantly. Now that he talked about it, it was clear that other Richie wasn't similar to real Richie at all, just like his mother and other mother weren't. They looked alike except for the eyes, but inside they were different.

"And what did we do? In your dream?" the boy asked curiously, entering in the kitchen. Eddie sat mindlessly at the table and started sipping his now almost cold tea.

"We watched one of Mr Bobo's shows. It was pretty neat. And we ate a lot of popcorns" Eddie said. What he didn't say was _"and our hands brushed and you smiled at me I thought that you were better over there" _

"If it was pretty neat it doesn't sound like him, too. Bobinsky is gross and his mice can't do a damn trick straight" Richie commented.

Eddie explained him where the cleaning products were and the boy started cleaning the kitchen, as Eddie lazily drank his tea keeping him company.

After a while, once he finished, he went upstairs to change into proper clothes and rolled his eyes. "Okay, you won, give me a dishcloth" he said, offering his hand. Soon he felt the weight of it on his palm.

Richie was grinning widely looking at him. "I always knew you were the best, Eds"

"Don't call me Eds, then!" Eddie replied in annoyance, whipping him in the face with the wet dishcloth in his hands.

"Hey stop it!" Richie protested, but he was laughing.

"Stop what? Stop what Richie? I can't hear you! Stop what?" Eddie asked smirking, mercilessly soaking his face and clothes, whipping him with the dirty cloth, firmly but not to hurt him, without giving him the time to reply.

Finally Richie managed to hold the dishcloth with his hands, grabbing it thightly and pushing it to take to from Eddie's hands. Eddie stepped back and shrugged his shoulders anxiously. "I guess I'll go clean the living room first" he said, barely in a whisper.

"Don't even try to go away now, you're a dead man Eddie, you know that" Richie said, dead serious, as he filled a mug with sink water.

"What do you want to do with that?"

"What do you think, Eds?"

"You can't hurt me, I'm disabled!" he said, stepping back again.

"You're not disabled, you broke your arm, and even if you were I'm not planning to hurt you anyway"

"It's not really necess..." he didn't finish the sentence because Richie had just threw the water in the mug at him.

"Ah! Asshole!" Eddie yelped, trying to run out of the house, but Richie was quicker and grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"Heya, you kiss your mother with that mouth, Eds?" he asked, another filled cup in his hand, that he was slowly lowering towards his friend's head.

"I kiss _your _mother with that mouth, to be exact" Eddie replied, looking at him in the eyes. Richie froze still for a moment, then he did the most impredictable of all things: he raised his hand, having mercy of him, and dropped all the cold water on his own head.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Okay, I'm not dreaming! Eddie gets of a good one! He really does! Eddie my love, you really are learning!" he roared of laughter, finally leaving Eddie's wrist. Soon after, Eddie followed with laughter too.

They stayed like this, laughing their lungs off in the middle of the messed up half clean kitchen, for nearly five minutes that for Eddie felt like an eternity. In a surprisingly lucid moment came to him that probably he had never laughed like that.

Richie was the first to calm down, his shoulders shaking slower and his breath coming back to normal. "Moron" he breathed, hands to his chest, desperately trying to control his breath again.

Eddie looked at him with a smirk, face flushed and fast breath, he triggered his aspirator to gain back some control over himself and said "Oy Rich, you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

The burst of laughter that came next was way shorter but not less heartfelt. When they finally stopped, for real this time, Eddie had a bad hiccup.

"Awww, too many good chuckles lately? That's what you get when you hang out with the Trashmout"

"I- h-hate you. I hate y-you"

"Here Eds, wait a minute" Richie said, a wide smile still on his lips. He filled a glass with tap water and Eddie tensed, looking at it with wide eyes.

"What d-do you want t-to do with t-that? And don't c-call me Eds"

"Relax, you have to drink it. It's supposed to make it go away" he explained, handing him the glass.

Eddie accepted it with a skeptical look on his face, but he drank it anyway. Once he finished, he put the glass back on the table and waited for a few seconds.

"I think it worked! I think it worked!" he cheered.

"It's cause I'm a wizard, that's what I am. You should see my magic tricks" he said, moving his hips for good measure. "The best ones are reserved for you mom, if you know what I mean"

"You're literally the worst" Eddie complained. "And we have to hurry, I really want to finish this, or my mom would be disappointed and DON'T RICHIE!" he yelled, knowing full well he was going to make another comment about not disappointing his mother. Richie closed his mouth, rolling his eyes. "And I don't want her complain all day"

"Okay, okay, I'm getting seriously into work this time, but only because you asked. You owe me one" ha said, back to the broom he was sweeping with.

"I owe you what? You're getting five bucks for all this, I'm not getting anything, looks more like _you_ owe _me_ one"

"Maybe we're even, then" Richie smirked, and Eddie shook his head.

They kept cleaning up for most part of the morning, Eddie was methodical but slow and Richie was messy but quick, and he didn't do a bad work anyway. They kept talking, mostly small talks, and Richie sometimes compared his wang to the cleaning tool of choice. Eddie pretended to be grossed out, but he was having a good time, and Richie knew it.

When they finished the kitchen, the living room, the first floor bathrooms and the corridors, it was nearly noon. They were both exhausted, but Eddie was feeling quite proud.

"What do you say, friend? Do you fancy a disgusting tea next door?" Richie asked, looking proudly at their work. The house looked way less hostile now, it was quite welcoming to be honest.

"I don't know, what if my mother comes back? She doesn't want me to talk with you, let alone go out of the house. She would put metal bars on my window if she finds out"

"It will only take a few minutes! Nobody is going to find out, please! It will be a real experience, you can't miss this!"

"A real experience at the queers' place. Maybe we could ask them what the hell does it even mean"

"Probably it's not a good idea, not if it's a bad thing. Don't you think?"

Eddie shrugged his shoulders. "Guess so"

Richie smiled and offered him his hand, adjusting his big square glasses on his nose with the other. Eddie felt the familiar knot in his stomach again and he bit his cheek. He sighed, then he took it. "Let's go reject some tea"

Miss Spink's and Miss Forcible's place was dark and warm. The house consisted basically in one big living room with a couch, a few chairs, and one big stage with auburn drapes. The walls were covered in shelves, each one of them had dozens of golden statues shaped like scottie dogs. The place was also crowded with actual scottie dogs, barking, running, and shaking their tales happily.

"You were right. This is definitely weird" Eddie whispered, stepping hesitantly in the house.

"I'm always right, Eds"

The boy didn't have time to complain about the pet name, because two women in their seventies, sitting on the couch, noticed them and waved their hands.

Everything about them was inappropriate. They were sitting way too close to be normal, with their legs tangled togheter, the shorter one resting her head to the shoulder of the taller. Their clothes were inappropriate too, slim clothes that showed too much of their breasts, legs and hips, Eddie was sure his mother would have had a heart attack if she saw them. Their hair were dyed in bright colours, bright yellow for one of them and pink for the other. Eddie looked at them almost shocked, Richie seemed to notice it as he squeezed softly his hand before letting go, quickly sitting on one of the sofa. Eddie followed him, still dubious, and looked at them speechless.

"What do you see, April?" the taller one with yellow hair asked, "Richard and the new kid?"

"You really are almost blind, dear. Of course they are. I asked Richie to come this morning, and we saw it in the tea leaves, too" pink one said, standing up. "I'm going to make some tea" she added, smiling kindly at them.

"Oh, we just had breakfast, that won't be necessary" Richie intervened, and discreetly winked at Eddie. He chuckled.

"I insist" April said, walking away and putting her head in a colorful trunk, looking for something.

"Well kid, what do you think about staying here? Do you like the neighborhood so far?" the woman asked, and Eddie frowned. That was a question supposedly directed to him, but she was looking intensely at Richie.

The boy cleared his throat. "Well, I lived here almost my whole life, so..."

The woman brought dramatically both her hands to her mouth, gesturing widely. "Oh my poor poor eyes. I really can't see. I was obviously talking to you, kid" she fixed, turning to face Eddie instead.

"Oh. Well, my name is Edward, but everyone calls me Eddie" he explained, and Richie mouthed _not everyone, Eds. _Eddie rolled his eyes and kept talking. "When I first arrived yesterday I didn't want to. I thought I would have hated it. But it's not so bad after all, I think. At least when my mom isn't home"

"You're living in the house on the left, right? You know that you have to be careful. Children over there tend to disappear, that's what they say"

"Stop it Miram, you're scaring him" said the woman that just got a big teapot on what it looked like a portable stove.

"I'm only telling the truth and you know this, darling"

Eddie's face puckered. _Darling_ wasn't a thing women usually said to their women friends. It was a thing for husbands and wives. But Richie called him _Eddie, my love _this morning, and perhaps that's what it was. Maybe Miss Forcible was joking. Because Richie was only joking, right? The woman didn't look bothered at all. Eddie shot Richie a perplexed look and saw the same expression mirrored in his eyes.

Miss Spink came with her fuming teapot and two small cups. "Take it, come on. It will be good, trust me"

"Really, we're full! Isn't it Eds?" Richie asked with eyes wide. Eddie nodded fervently at the words.

"We're cool miss, seriously" he added, to help out his friend.

"Don't be spoiled guys, just drink your cup of tea. Didn't your parents teach you that's not polite to reject food someone's offering?"

Eddie sighed heavily and looked hesitantly at his cup. With the side of his eye he noticed that Richie was discreetly dropping some of it on the floor, and he bit his lips hard not to laugh. He went for sipping carefully the tea instead. He found it very interesting. It didn't taste anything like tea. It tasted bright green and vaguely chemical. He wrinkled his nose and tried to smile, hiding a disgusted grimace. He heard Richie giggle looking at him. The sound made the knots in his stomach feel heavier. "It's really good, thank you miss" he lied.

"Once you're finished I'll read you tea leaves, what do you think?"

Richie was clearly amused by the question. Eddie knew he thought it was bullshit but still he couldn't wait for that to happen to _have a good chuck, _as he put it. He cleared his throat and nodded. "I would love to"

He finished his tea quietly, thinking about how his mother would force him to have a gastric lavage if she knew what he was drinking, and glancing quick side eyes at Richie, who kept carefully dropping tea on the floor when the two women weren't looking.

"Give me your cup, kiddo" miss Forcible said, and he obliged. The woman looked at it and smiled in relief. "Well, not to worry, child: It's good news. There's a tall handsome beast in your future"

"A beast? Maybe it's Stanley!" Richie commented with a grin.

Miss Spink took it roughly from the hands of her partner and looked closer, focusing on the tea leaves left on the bottom of the cup. "You're blind and useless, give it to me" she hissed, and her eyes widened. "You have to be careful!" the woman almost yelled, putting a hand on Eddie's knee and squeezing it. The kid jumped, startled. He felt a comforting weight on his shoulder and noticed Richie had softly grabbed it, and he was looking at April with an annoyed glare.

"You're in great danger! You have to stay away from it, okay? Stay away or you're not coming back this time!"

"I don't..." the boy wheezed, and triggered his aspirator, sucking a breath.

"Remember kid, eyes never lie. Eyes never lie. Never forget it" the woman begged again.

Miss Forcible looked again in the cup and commented flatly "I only see a giraffe"

But when Miss Spink showed him the tea leaves, Eddie flinched. They formed a perfectly round circle with four tiny holes inside of it. A button.

Eddie must have looked at it with so much concern that he felt Richie squeeze his shoulder again as he stood up. "We better go now, we don't want your mother catch you outside of the house, do we?"

He nodded and stood up with him. Richie took his hand with the cast and pulled him out of the house. "I'm sorry" he said when they were finally outside in the sun. "They're not always like that, I swear. I mean, they're always crazy as hell but not like this, they looked..."

"Dead serious" Eddie finished, breathing again in his inhaler with his free hand.

"Yeah but it's not like these things are real, right? It doesn't mean anything! Eyes never lie? Crazy!"

"Yeah, crazy" Eddie agreed weakly, but he looked hesitant. "I better go now, you were right. My mom could come back at any moment"

"Yeah, sure" the kid said, awkwardly scratching his head with his free hand. "But we'll meet again this afternoon, right?"

"I don't know" Eddie replied, letting go of his hand. "Probably my mom will stay home for the rest of the day"

"I have a bunch of comics at home, we could read them. And my mom made cookies"

Eddie istantly lit up at the mention of sweets. "Your mother lets you eat cookies? Like actual cookies?"

"Your mother does not?" Richie asked, frowning.

"She says sweets are bad for your theeth"

Richie shrugged his shoulders. "Well, my parents are both dentists, so I wouldn't worry about it"

"Dentists? Really? And they bake cookies? For you?"

"Not every day of course, but some times they do. My mother does, at least. I asked her to because I thought you were coming over"

"Oh" the simple fact that he asked something like that to his parents specifically for him made him feel warm in his chest. "Thank you, I'll... I'll think about it" he muttered, and that was enough apparently, because the boy smiled and winked at him.

"See ya, Eds!" he said, turning his heels and running back home.

Eddie shook his head and got inside. That had certain been a weird morning. He and Richie had done the perfect job, he had to admit it. The house looked welcoming now that it was clean, they washed the windows too, and he could see the weak light of sun, shy but still persistent.

He crossed the living room almost absent mindedly, when he stopped still, frozen on the spot. Next to the locked door in the corridor that lead to the stairs, there was the doll. It rested still with its little back on the wall, and its little legs on the floor, and it was looking at him. And Eddie knew that the doll should be back on the chair in his bedroom. There was no way it could be downstairs next to the door like that. His heart almost stopped.

_You're in great danger! _

_You have to stay away from it_

_Stay away or you're not coming back this time_

_Remember kid, eyes never lie. Never forget it_

Miss Spink's words echoed in his mind, eyes still focused on the doll on the floor. He was one hundred percent sure that last night didn't happen for real. If it was a nightmare or a beautiful dream he wasn't really sure about, but it wasn't real. It couldn't be. There wasn't an other mother behind the locked door. There wasn't another Richie who couldn't talk and gave him sweet smiles, and certainly there wasn't an other Bill talking to him from a picture on his bedside table.

But he had to be sure. He had to be sure this time. So he grabbed the doll, and held it tightly. He slowly lowered the handle, and closed his eyes. When he was about to push it for the second time that morning, he heard his mother's car stop in the garden in front of the house.

"Eddie bear! How have you been this morning?" his mother greeted him, bursting into the house with two bags of groceries in her hands. Eddie knew the best food in there wasn't for him, and the sight annoyed him.

He quickly moved the hand with the doll behind his back and he smiled. "Hi, ma. I'm good. A bit bored, that's all"

"I bought food, go wash your hands and we're having lunch!"

The boy raced upstairs and put the doll back on the chair where it should have been in the first place. He carefully washed his hands in the bathroom and came back downstairs, trying to calm his breath. If his mother saw him like that she would send him immediately at the hospital.

"What is it, honey? You're paler than usual. Could it be the the cleaning products in the air? That Tozier boy probably made a mess"

"Well the kitchen looks neat, don't you think?" he asked, joining her at the table.

"It probably could be done better than this but at least the dust is gone" Sonia said flatly, handing him a dish full of plain mashed potatoes and boiled zucchini on the side. Eddie sighed, looking at his plate hopelessly.

"You didn't talk to him did you?" Sonia asked, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably. She was suspicious.

"I think he doesn't even know you have a son" Eddie complained, secretly congratulating with himself for the naturalness of the lie.

"Good boy. Now finish your lunch and let's have a nap, what do you think?"

The boy kept eating obediently, thinking about how to sneak out later. Two possibilities came to his mind:

_one, _his mother would fall asleep in her bedroom upstairs. In that case, he could easily go out from the front door while she was asleep.

_two, _Sonia would nap on the couch. And that would be a problem, because he would have to walk in front of her to go out and there was the possibility she could wake up and tell at him.

He hoped with all his strength for the first one.

He wasn't so lucky.

When he finally heard her lightly snoring, he slowly went downstairs from his bedroom, trying to be silent. The steps shrieked a bit, but nothing too bad. After lunch he told her not to disturb him because he would probably study after sleeping, he hoped that could do it. He didn't want to hear the tantrum of the century that evening.

He slowly entered into the kitchen and sighed. If he couldn't go outside from the front door he had to do it from the window. He slowly approached it and opened it with a frown. He immediately aknowledged that it would be really difficult to do with only one arm, but he had to.

He used his free arm to pull himself up and he managed to sit on the windowsill, legs inside and back facing the garden. Holding the window frame with his sane hand, he carefully shifted a bit, raising his leg and slipping it outside. Now he had one leg inside of the house and one hanging over the garden grass and was sitting uncomfortably in the middle.

_"God, this is so difficult" _he thought, stretching his only useful arm and finally slipping his other leg towards the garden. He sighed in relief and let go of the window frame, jumping down on the ground.

Here he was, safe and sound outside of the house. He smiled proudly to himself, approaching his neighbours' house. He didn't even ring the bell, because the moment he was under the porch a familar boy opened the door in front of him.

"You sneaked out" Richie said, without even saying hello.

"You were spying on me again from the window" Eddie replied, it wasn't a question. "Why did you do to?"

Richie looked like he was thinking about it. "I don't know" he answered. "I'm not like this, usually. Maybe I look at your house because I hope to see your mom stripping for me"

"That was absolutely disgusting!" Eddie yelled, stepping in after an inviting gesture of the boy.

Richie laughed but he didn't reply to tease him more. He showed him around the house, saying his parents were at work. The place was nice inside just like it was on the outside. It was welcoming and warm, it felt lived and _home _more than any house Eddie had ever lived in. 

When they reached Richie's room there were a dozen of comics spread on the floor, one plate full of chocolate chips' cookies and two glasses of milk on an almost empty desk - Eddie had the impression that it was cleaned just for him - a single bed with Nirvana sheets, and posters of alternative rock bands on the walls.

On the pillow, now that Eddie looked closer, he saw that Stanley rested with eyes closed. Richie noticed he was looking at him and explained "He flew here at my window this morning and woke me up. He looked exhausted, some feathers were broken. He must have had a rough night"

_Your father is outside. He's chasing a bird. It didn't let him sleep last night and he doesn't want that to happen again, not now when you're here with us._

Eddie remembered and suddenly he felt cold. The bird probably heard them and opened his eyes. They looked so human like that Eddie for a moment felt sick and froze still on the spot.

"Don't worry Eds, lil ol' Stan is perfectly fine, just a bit tired" Richie said, reading into his concerned expression. The bird was staring at him. Eddie knew what that look meant. It seemed impossible, but he knew. It meant _Don'_t_ do it. Tonight don't do it. I know you are planning to, just don't. _But he knew he had to. Just to be sure. Just one time more. Just to prove to himself it wasn't a dream.

When Richie lay on the floor in front of the comics and patted the empty space next to him, all these thoughts vanished immediately. Eddie took the glasses of milk and the plate and put them next to him as he lay there too, their shoulders were brushing and he realised he liked that.

"I haven't drank milk since when I was five, I think" he whispered, looking suspiciously at the glass.

"Why so?"

"My mom is scared I could be lactose intolerant. She says that I could become one at any moment and it's better avoiding it all the times"

"I don't think this is how it works" Richie muttered, mostly to himself. "Why is your mother like that?" he asked, immediately after.

"Like how?"

"Hot!" Richie smirked, but his looks turned serious so quickly Eddie didn't even have time to frown. "She doesn't want you to talk with the other boys. She doesn't let you eat sweets, or drink milk. She made you move here in the middle of the summer to punish you, I could tell, and I bet there are a lot of things she doesn't let you do"

"Uhm" Eddie bit his cheek, he wasn't sure about what to say. Bill was the only one that knew these things about him except for his mother, but he felt like he could trust the kid, so he said "when I was five my father died"

The silence that followed let him speak again. "Things were normal before. Better than normal, that's what I remember, at least. But after that, my mom completely lost it. She started to worry I would leave her like dad did. She was afraid of me getting hurt, or sick. She started not letting me play out with my friends, then she forced me to stop eating everything that wasn't plain rice and boiled vegetables, basically. And she started to feed me with meds. That's when I got asthma, I was eight. Since then things are pretty much the same. Add the fact that I'm weak and you understand what happened"

"But you are not" Richie replied, flatly.

"Not what?"

"Weak"

"Yes, I am. I broke my arm in a three feet fall. And I always fell ill"

"You sneaked out today"

"Yes, I did"

"And you were playing outside when you fell, even if you just said your mother doesn't want you to"

"Yes, but..."

"You're not weak"

Eddie looked at him trying to read his expression but he soon found out he couldn't. Instead, he grabbed his glass of milk and had a sip. Richie handed him a cookie, not saying a word. Eddie carefully took it and gave it a bite. He smiled.

"How's it?"

"It's the best food I ever tasted" he muttered, his mouth still full. And it was true.

"Remember when I told you the Eddie doll is almost as cute as you?"

Eddie nodded.

"I found what the almost was for. Do you want to know?"

Eddie nodded again. He felt like his heart was going to rip off his chest.

"It's because of the eyes. I like them, they're big, and deep, and expressive. Nothing like a pair of black buttons could ever replace them" he said, and Stanley tweeted from his spot on the pillow, as to prove his point.

"Thanks, I guess" Eddie whispered, he was feeling awkwardly warm, and his breath was short, he knew it wasn't about his asthma.

Richie grinned at him and pointed the comic beneath them. "Do you fancy Hulk? It's my favourite"

"Of course" Eddie replied, voice too soft for his likeness.

They kept reading for a while, shoulders connected, when one of them was faster, usually it was Eddie, the other brushed his hand with his fingers to stop him from turning the page. Every soft touch made Eddie's knots felt heavier in his stomach and he didn't know why, but he was happy.

_"Maybe this is what it feels like to be at home with someone" _he thought. When they finished reading they chatted light heartedly about everything. Eddie told him about Henry Bowers, his childhood bully that kept chasing him after school for the whole year, and Richie told him about how he was an A student in all classes but he had his grades ruined since he spent half the time in school in detention because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

They talked about the comic they just read, not agreeing on a single line of it. They were having an argument as old and comfortable as an armchair, the kind of argument that no one ever really wins or loses but which can go on forever, if both parties are willing.

Eddie realised, laughing at the umpteenth bad joke of his friend, that maybe he sort of liked the fact that Richie talked a lot, after all.


	4. Not all gifts come for the better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Pretty fashionable, aren't they? If you don't like them black we can use some other colours. Brown maybe? Just like your eyes?" The woman said, smiling wider.  
"Oh, I don't... I don't know if I..."  
"It won't be painful, I swear. You're going to have a loooot of fun" Bob cheered, and the high pitched voice sent a cold shiver down his spine.  
"I'll do it... tomorrow. How does it sound?" Eddie offered, a weak smile on his lips that looked more like a bad grimace, his facade slowly fading away.  
"But why should we wait? This is such a happy time to celebrate! I baked you a cake, for the occasion! What's the difference between today and tomorrow? Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you, really listen to you. You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand. They don’t even get your name right" Other Sonia reasoned.  
"Richie knows my name. He just calls me Eds to annoy me" he pointed out, a bit too sharply. "And we should wait because... I want to see my real mom just one more time. I like... I obviously like you better, but she's been my mom for thirteen years, I just want to see her one more time. Just once"

When Eddie came home, his mother had just woke up. She found him in the kitchen one second after he had sneaked back in, with a bit of Richie's help this time, and told her he only wanted a glass of water.

He said he wasn't hungry for dinner and he nearly didn't eat, both because of the cookies he had at Richie's and because of the hell huge dinner he knew was waiting for him in the Other House. His fasting concerned his mother a lot and she sent him immediately upstairs to sleep, afraid he could have got a cold, despite being fully aware it was July.

The boy sighed under the sheets and looked down at the Eddie doll in suspicion. It looked like it was staring back just to mock him. Eddie huffed, turning on the opposite side, the bed made a bad screeching noise as he did, and he rolled his eyes.

He was thinking about so many things so hard that he started to feel a headache rising in his skull.

First, he still didn't know if last night was a dream or it was real. What happened didn't make sense, but the doll that kept moving, the tea leaves showing the shape of a button on the bottom of his tea cup and an injured Stanley on Richie's bed didn't make sense either and he was sure all the things happened to him. There were far too many coincidences; leven if last night was a dream, reality didn't make sense at all, and that was scary.

Second, if it wasn't a dream, maybe Stanley and Miss Spink were right. Maybe the Other World was dangerous and he shouldn't go there. Maybe Bob and other mother were evil beings that only wanted to attract him to do who knows how many creepy things to him. That wouldn't be nice, Eddie didn't want that for sure.

Third, if they really were trying to attract him, they were certainly succeeding. Eddie somehow felt that Stanley wasn't evil, but he still didn't understood why he should trust him and not other Richie, for example. People in the other world showed him they cared for him, they proved it. They gave him everything he asked before he even had to ask for it. Stanley didn't do anything for him except for kidnapping him and push him behind a tree. And about Miss Spink, she looked insane and he couldn't trust her, either.

He huffed again, sitting on the bed. He glanced a side look at the chair. The doll looked like it was laughing at him.

"Let's do this. I have to do this or I'm going insane" he whispered, as he jumped off the bed. He had to find out if what he saw the night before was real. Just one time more. He had to see it with his own eyes. If it was real, if there was really something wrong with it, he could just go to bed, and waking up he would be safe in his real bed again.

When he opened his bedroom door, a muffled sound made him flinch. There was Stanley, waiting for him on the handrail. Eddie could swear he saw the bird shoot him an annoyed glare. When he slowly walked down the stairs, he followed him flying silently from behind.

The door next to the living room that during the day was locked with a key he couldn't find was now half open, a faint light came from inside. Eddie fully opened it and came inside slowly.

When he stepped in, istantly a boy appeared in the previously empty corridor. Eddie forced himself to choke a scream, caught off guard.

"Stanley! It was... it was true!"

"Of course it was true. I told you!" he hissed in a whisper. "Now that you know that, go back to bed!"

"Why? Because you told me to?"

"Exactly!"

"You wish!"

Stanley tried to push him through the door but Eddie slapped him furiously.

"Stop! Stop they'll hear you!" Stanley begged with low voice, trying not to snap at him.

"If you don't let go of me I'll scream, I swear!" Eddie said, and Stanley immediately stepped back, hands up.

"God, you're so annoying"

"I know" Eddie answered proudly.

"Why do you want to go there?"

"Because I enjoy it! And if it turns out to be dangerous I'll just fall asleep and I would wake up at home!"

"It doesn't even work like that!"

"It does, it did yesterday"

"You're right, _yesterday_. Usually the second night is enough for it to steal the eyes"

Eddie felt goosebumps on his skin and shook his head. "I won't let anyone touch me, relax"

"Please, please, just go back to bed. I... I can't lose you too". The whisper sounded so desperate that it worked.

Eddie froze, looking at the boy with interest, tilting his head to the side. Stanley shrugged and fixed his golden hair behind his hear, looking awkwardly at his feet. "Stan, what... what happened?"

The boy bit his lower lip and closed his eyes. "After me, there were three other boys, living in the house. I tried to help them too, and I failed with all of them. First, there was Mike. His parents owned a farm and they told him he would have inherited it and he would have never left the neighborhood. Mike was the most intelligent, cultured boy I have ever met and he felt trapped. He knew everything about anything. Pennywise showed him an Other World were he was free. Free to forget the land, the animals, the plants, and he could look at the sky, travel, learn whatever he wanted"

Stanley shook his head sighing heavily but he kept talking. "Then, there was Ben. He was the kindest kid I have ever met. The boy was generous, well tempered, selfless. But he was alone. He was afraid he was going to be alone forever. Pennywise showed him a world were everyone cared about him, everyone loved him. Ben loved love, if you get what I mean. And it caught him"

The silence that followed was the longest. Eddie could tell it was hard for him, to run again through his memories like that. "The last one was Beverly. She was Richie's aunt, by the way. The girl was fierce, brave, and strong. I thought she was finally going to be the one, I thought that I could convince her and she would have believed me. I almost succeeded with her. She was ready to come back with me through the door. But then, her real father came to chase her downstairs because he found out she wasn't in her room the night before. She... let's say that her real version of the world wasn't much better than the other one Pennywise created for her and I... and she didn't come back, too. With them I failed but I won't give up. I don't want it to happen again. I don't want it to happen to you"

"It seems like you really liked them"

"I liked all of them, it's true," Stanley looked up for the first time and fixed his eyes on Eddie's, dead serious. "You're the one that I like less, if I have to be honest" he said. After a few seconds, his lips cracked in a tiny smile. Eddie smiled back.

"I'm sorry for what happened. But I _have _to! They have Bill! And this Richie, I have to see him one more..."

"We already talked about this! These things, they're not your friends!"

"This is the last night I'm doing this, okay? I trust you, I swear. But I can't let them go now, I just can't" Eddie said, and Stanley looked at him with sad eyes.

"Okay. Go, then. Say goodbye. I'll keep an eye on you. Yesterday it nearly got me, it understood I'm messing with you somehow, so be careful"

The boy nodded and walked through the corridor, Stanley slowly walking behind him. When they bursted into the other living room, Eddie was surprised again about how good it was compared to the real one. Stanley opened one of the windows and jumped outside.

"I'm watching you. Don't let it take your eyes" he whispered and Eddie let him know he heard with a small nod. Stanley disappeared in the dark.

"Ma? Where are you?" Eddie asked, coming into the kitchen. This time, there was no food on the table, and she wasn't cooking, but looking intensely at him, at least it was what it seemed. It was always hard to tell with the button eyes. The boy gulped loudly.

"Eddie bear, you're here early! I didn't start to cook dinner yet!"

"No problem, ma! I'm not really hungry, I've had..."

"Some cookies and milk in the afternoon" other mother said, with a smile. Eddie touched his cast absent mindedly like it was a lucky charm, his fingers lingering on the _LOVER_ written on it. "I'm your other mother, I know everything about you"

"Do you hear this, kid?" a low voice asked from behind, and Eddie turned back to face it, startled. Bob was looking at him, half dressed like a clown, fluffy orange pompoms on his chest and big long clown shoes on his feet. It was the creepiest clown Eddie had ever seen. He shook his head. To be fair, he didn't hear anything. "This, my dear boy, is the chirp of a bird. I _hate_ birds. Do you like them, Eddie?"

Eddie forced himself not to flinch at the words. He was a well trained liar because of his mother. He furrowed his brows innocently and said "I'm not particularly fond of them, but I don't exactly dislike them, either. I'm more like a dog person actually"

Bob smiled. It was ugly. "Well, I can't stand them. I will find the bird in the woods and I'll rip off his wings. Maybe I can teach you how to do it"

A cold shiver went down his spine, as he managed to answer "It's not my sort of things, but if you really care about it, I guess..."

"Why don't you go outside, Eddie bear? Richie could take you to Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's place! They're working on a new show! When you'll come back, dinner will be ready. We have a nice surprise for you!" other mother interrupted, sensing something was off

"Oh, well, it sounds nice!" Eddie quickly replied, his hands in his pockets. He ached to reach his aspirator but he knew it would have looked suspicious. To save him from the awkwardness, the bell rang suddenly.

"It must be him, go dear" other mother said, wide reassuring smile on his lips. Eddie thanked her and raced to the door. The familiar sight of the boy with big glasses greeted him with an honest smile, or at last that's what it looked to him.

"Hey" Eddie wheezed, quickly reaching for his inhaler and triggering it in his mouth. He felt safe to do that in front of other Richie, now that Bob wasn't in sight.

The boy gently waved his hand to say hello, then grabbed his shirt and pulled him out of the door frame.

"I'm coming" Eddie smiled, all of his insecurities fading away like mist in the middle of March now that he was with his friend.

"Looks like we're going to see Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's show, if you're okay with it!" Eddie explained, and other Richie nodded solemnly, taking his hand.

Eddie sighed at the touch, that was exactly what he wanted, even if he didn't know why. He always hated touchy people, he wasn't used to it. He wouldn't have minded holding hands with Bill probably, but his friend wasn't too affectionate, physically speaking, and he hated with all his strength when his mother forced him to kiss her cheek, or when she kissed his forehead before sleep. And about holding hands, he never saw two boys doing that before, he didn't think it was exactly what people did. But he wasn't _people _and neither was Richie, or other Richie for that matter, so he thought it was okay. There was certainly no harm in thaf, after all.

When they arrived at the neighbours' house, the door was already open and they sneaked inside. Miss Spink's and Miss Forcible's other flat was very different from the real one, just as his other house was different from his real home. The little stage with a bunch of chairs in the real world, now was a huge theatre with the ceiling so tall he wondered where Mr Bobo's flat was supposed to be, even if he had visited it the night before.

Bloody red velvet curtains shined on stage under the light of the crystal chandeliers. Dozens of red and gold comfy seats filled the room. Sat on them, more scottie dogs than Eddie had ever saw in his whole life (to be fair, except for the day before he only saw two of them once so it wasn't hard to beat the record). There weren't shelves with golden statues shaped like dogs, but actual golden shiny dogs running and playing with the real ones. They all had buttons instead of their eyes.

The place was filled with nice opera music and a tentative smell of cotton candy and something else that probably was some kind of fruity herbal tea Eddie didn't know. Richie grinned widely and pushed him on one of the front seats, sitting in the one next to him. One golden dog brought them two sticks of cotton candy, holding them in its mouth.

"Thank you" Eddie whispered taking them, and the dog wagged its tail happily.

The light suddenly switched off and all the dogs stayed immediately silent. The music grew louder. The boy turned to face other Richie and noticed he was looking at him too, with a smirk.

Eddie looked intensely in his buttoned eyes and asked, without thinking: "do they hurt?"

Other Richie furrowed his brows in confusion, and Eddie brushed his thumb on the boy's cheek, under his eye. His skin was smooth and unbelievably cold and he was holding his breath. Eddie kind of was, too. "The buttons. Do they hurt?"

Other Richie didn't nod, but he didn't shake his head, either. Eddie thought that lack of an answer looked more like a yes than a no, all things considered. The boy bit his lips hard, like he was struggling not to say something.

"You can talk if you want. Maybe real Richie is a bit too loud, but it's okay to talk sometimes. I won't hate you for that" he said, trying to sound reassuring.

Eddie had learned at a very young age how to read people. He had to, to find a way to survive. He had to read his mother to understand if it was okay to push it to make her let him go to the Quarry or if it would only get things worse. He had to read the way Bowers' lips puckered to know if it would be safe to go home trough the shortest path or he was so mad it would have been better to go near the library and walk fifteen minutes more or he would have gotten his ass kicked.

It was hard to read any kind of expression in the other world, because the eyes weren't expressive at all. They were lifeless. But he thought maybe he understood what other Richie's face was trying to convey. The words written on his face were

_I'm sorry._

And that words were conveyed in such an heartbreaking way that Eddie tensed all his muscles, about to stand up and go away.

One second before he could do it, the red curtains slid open and two wonderful women appeared on the stage. Eddie looked at other Richie again with the strong presentiment that he wouldn't try to stop him if he left. And that's precisely why he didn't. He didn't want to leave him alone.

The two women he was looking at were undeniably other Miss Spink and other Miss Forcible. Miss Spink's bright pink hair and her tiny shape were unmistakable, and Miss Forcible's tall and generous appearance and her long yellow hair were too. They didn't look like seventy year old crazy women as if they were in the real world, but beautiful young women in their late twenties.

Not beautiful in a breath taking way like Bill was, or beautifully messy in a cute way like Richie. They were what Eddie usually defined like averagely considered beautiful, like Hollywood actresses and models. The only difference was that Hollywood actresses usually had beautiful eyes too, and not two ugly buttons sewed on their skulls.

They stayed on opposite sides of the stage for a moment, when other Miss Spink ran towards her partner surprisingly fast. Miss Forcible grabbed her hips and in a fluid elegant movement threw her up towards the ceiling. Eddie gasped. That was certainly stunning to watch.

The woman grabbed some velvet blue strings tied to the ceiling and swung forward like she was flying. She left the strings and did a quick somersault, taking another one a few feet from the first with the back of her knees, trapping it with her legs. Other Miss Forcible jumped right below her so tall Eddie was sure she had just beaten some jumping record. Her partner held her hands firmly, and they looked at eachother so intensely that looked like the one time Eddie went at his elder cousin's wedding and he saw her give the groom the first kiss after the ceremony.

The two women kept flying in the air, sometimes togheter, sometimes splitting up and then coming back together, dancing about thirty feet up in the air. The music grew louder and louder while the stunts got more and more complicated. When the acrobats finally touched the ground and they bowed to the audience, the curtains closing in front of them and the light switching on again, Eddie had no idea about how much time had actually passed.

He finally turned to face other Richie and saw he was already looking at him. For what he knew, since Eddie hadn't looked away from the show even once, fully captured by the stunts, Richie could have stared at him the whole time.

The boys stood up silently, Eddie didn't have to ask to know their time was over. They walked out slowly, the first time since he knew him the silence between them felt awkward. Nobody called for him, but other Richie shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards his house.

"You going already?" Eddie asked weakly, but he already knew the answer. Other Richie shrugged his shoulders again.

_I'm sorry. _

_I'm sorry Eddie, I'm sorry._

The gesture said.

"See you tomorrow, then" Eddie whispered, but both knew it wasn't true.

As soon as other Richie left, Eddie heard a muffled sound behind him, in the woods.

"Happy now? Just go home already!" a voice said, and Eddie sighed in relief.

"God, Stanley, you can't keep scaring me like that!" Eddie hissed, when the boy appeared from behind one of the trees. He approached him, looking anxiously around.

"Well I won't have to because we're going home now" he whispered.

"Yes, I'll go have dinner with them, otherwise it would be suspicious, and then I'll say I'm too tired to do anything else and I'll go to sleep. Tomorrow I'll wake up at home and I won't go through that damn door ever again"

"Why can't we just sneak out from the door? Why do you have to sleep here? Will you even be able to fall asleep with that damn thing just behind your bedroom door?"

"I want to say goodbye to Bill before leaving, that's why I have to go to the bedroom. He's my best friend, I have to see him once again before leaving"

"For the billionth time Eddie, that..."

"...thing is not my best friend, I know. But it's exactly like him and I'm fucking weak okay? I'm sorry if I'm not smart like Mike, or kind like Ben or fucking fearless like Richie's aunt. I'm just weak. And I have to say goodbye to other Bill before leaving, because I..." he closed his mouth shut mid sentence. "Never mind. You won't get it"

Stanley rolled his eyes up. "Whatever. Just go have dinner and chat with your friend but try to fall asleep as soon as possible, okay? I'll be with you as always"

Eddie nodded. "Thank you for what you're doing for me"

"I'm not doing this _for you_. I'm doing this _against it_. It's different"

"Well, thank you anyway" Eddie said, and a moment of silence passed between them. Then Eddie hesitantly opened his mouth again. "Stanley, you know a lot of things, right?"

The boy smirked. "Let's say I lived long enough to learn a lot"

"Do you think Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are queers?"

Stanley looked surprised by the question. He frowned for a moment. "Well, these two ugly imposters sure aren't. But I think the real ones are"

"Is that a bad thing? Richie said it is" Eddie asked curiously.

"I don't think it is a bad thing, actually"

"Do you know what this means?"

The boy looked like he was thinking about the words to use. "Queers are..." Stanley said carefully, "they are ones who love different. Do you know what I mean?"

"I think I do" Eddie said.

"Go now, I don't want them to suspect anything. Eat the bare minimum and go to sleep"

Eddie nodded firmly and went back on his way. He was feeling anxious, hoping his other parents wouldn't feel something was going on.

When he got back in the house he was welcomed by a wonderful smell of food like he first time he entered in the other world. Bob and other mother were sitting at the table, waiting for him, both with wide smiles on their faces.

"Hi, sweetheart. How was the show?" Other mother asked, fixing her glasses on her nose.

"It was great, really. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are amazing!" he answered, having a seat.

"How does it feel not having to be fed with those ugly medicines, huh kid?" Bob said, serving him some french fries.

"I love it. It makes me feel... free" Eddie explained, and he didn't have to lie on that one. He hated taking his medicines for what he deep down knew were mostly futile reasons.

"We love having you here, you know that, right? We love you and your presence. This is your home, too" the woman said, trying to sound nonchalant about it. Eddie took some fries and started eating, focusing on that not to freak out.

"I know, of course. I love staying here, too"

"So, your mother and I were thinking..." Bob said, his voice getting lower. "Why don't you stay here with us all the time? You don't need them, you know. Those in your real world. You have us. We will give you whatever you want, any time you want it. Forever"

Other mother handed him a small box that had to be on her lap the entire time. He took it hesitantly, it was midnight blue and perfectly squared, smaller than the palm of his hand.

"Open it, darling. This is our gift to you. This is a ticket for a better future. Aren't you excited?" she asked, and Eddie nodded vigorously, he felt like his voice would be too weak if he spoke now. Bob giggled and the sound was so wrong the boy had to use all his strength not to start running towards the door.

He slowly opened the box, his hands slightly shaking, he couldn't help it. He bit the inside of his cheek so hard he started to taste the blood.

Inside of the tiny box, on a small velvet pillow, there were two shiny black buttons.

"Pretty fashionable, aren't they? If you don't like them black we can use some other colours. Brown maybe? Just like your eyes?" The woman said, smiling wider.

"Oh, I don't... I don't know if I..."

"It won't be painful, I swear. You're going to have _a __loooot_ of fun" Bob cheered, and the high pitched voice sent a cold shiver down his spine.

"I'll do it... tomorrow. How does it sound?" Eddie offered, a weak smile on his lips that looked more like a bad grimace, his facade slowly fading away.

"But why should we wait? This is such a happy time to celebrate! I baked you a cake, for the occasion! What's the difference between today and tomorrow? Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you, really listen to you. You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand. They don’t even get your name right" Other Sonia reasoned.

"Richie knows my name. He just calls me Eds to annoy me" he pointed out, a bit too sharply. "And we should wait because... I want to see my real mom just one more time. I like... I obviously like you better, but she's been my mom for thirteen years, I just want to see her one more time. Just once"

Other mother and Bob exchanged what it looked by a knowing look, because their brows furrowed at the same time.

"Sleep on it, Eddie. Tomorrow you'll tell us what you want to do" Bob suggested.

"Yes. Yes, I should. I'm exhausted, by the way. Really am. Think I'll go, now"

"You going already? Don't you want to wait for the cake? It's vanilla flavoured with chocolate frosting, it's really really good. It just got out of the oven" other mother said.

"I'm not so hungry, I ate a lot of cotton candy this evening. I feel a bit nauseous actually" he said, and he knew it was convincing because he indeed felt nauseous. The only lie was that cotton candy wasn't the reason behind it. "Do I really have to eat this?"

"You don't have to do anything, dear. Here you can do whatever you want. If you want to sleep, just go. Bring your gift with you, to remind you of how much we want you here"

Eddie nodded vigorously and stood up a bit too fast. He felt his knees weak. "Goodnight" he whispered, and the two of them waved their hands. Other mother didn't ask him to kiss her cheek like real Sonia would have done, but he wasn't happy about it anymore. She was wrong, all of them were. He quickly walked upstairs and bursted into his room, grabbing his aspirator so thight his knuckles were completely white. He inhaled deeply with its help and tried to calm his breath.

"Hey mate, you know that you don't need that here, right? You're a free man, finally! Just like me!" he heard a voice say, and jumped, startled.

"Eddie! What's wrong?" he heard again, and he finally recognised the too familiar sound. Hearing Bill's voice, even if it wasn't really Bill and he knew it, had a calming effect on him. It had always been like that.

"Oh, hi Billy. I know it, I'm just used to it, don't worry. I didn't do it because I needed it. I'm okay" Eddie said, looking at the other Bill in the picture. He soon realised Richie was right. A pair of beautiful eyes could never be replaced with two ugly doll buttons. That was what was wrong with other Bill. His beautiful, clear, firm eyes weren't there and he wasn't himself anymore.

"You don't need that in the Real World too. The medicines you take... they're placebos. It means bullshit"

"What... how do you know it?"

"I'm your best friend, I know it because I care about you. Your real mother, on the other hand... she doesn't give a shit about you, she feeds you with lies and sugar pills because she's afraid you'll leave her like Frank did"

"It's not... it's not true. You're lying"

"Have I ever lied to you, Eddie? Would I ever do it?"

The boy shook his head with a sigh.

"Exactly. She is the liar, not me. Not your other mother you have here. We love you. _I _love you" Bill said.

The words made Eddie's heart ache terribly, even if he didn't know why. "Do you?"

"Of course I do. Why would I lie about that?"

Eddie didn't reply. "I'm tired. I want to sleep. Sorry Bill"

"No problem, Eddie. Tomorrow I'll be here for you" he whispered.

_"No, you won't, thank God"_ Eddie thought, but nodded anyway. He put the small box in the bedside table choking a whine, he got in bed and tried to cradle himself in the covers. The fact that Other Bill didn't stutter was starting to annoy him. It meant the boy talking to him really wasn't his friend. 

"Good night, Big Bill" he whispered, closing his eyes.

"Good night, friend" the picture answered. Eddie closed his eyes.

Falling asleep was hard. He was scared and anxious, and he didn't want to use his inhaler not to alert other Bill. He tried to think about the beautiful sunsets at the Barrens with real Bill, where he felt home the most in Derry, but it didn't help, nor helped thinking about that evening, eating cookies and reading comics with real Richie in a lazy afternoon. It all felt distant and foreign right now.

The thought of Stanley keeping an eye over him helped a bit, it was palpable, he could feel it somehow. But falling asleep was hard.

After more than one hour, he finally succeeded.

When he woke up the morning after, for a moment he felt utterly dislocated. He did not know where he was; he was not entirely sure who he was.

It is astonishing just how much of what we are can be tied to the bed we wake up in in the morning and it is astonishing how fragile that can be.

Because, as soon as he opened his eyes, a utter feeling of pure terror rose in his stomach and filled his whole body in growing waves of fear. The morning sun was shining through the window, a new bright summer day had started, and he was still in his other room. He turned on his side and faced the bedside table.

"Morning, Eddie! Did you sleep well?" other Bill asked, from the picture he was hiding in.

Eddie felt like he was falling in a long, dark hole, as he stared at the ceiling, shock in his veins. It didn't work.


	5. What we have to do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie closed his eyes and sighed. "Remember when I told you I dreamed about you two nights ago? And you didn't talk and we went to Mr Bobinsky's to see the mice show?"  
"Yes. Yes, I do"  
"Well, it wasn't a dream. It was real. There's a locked door in my home, and behind it there's an other world, where everything is better. My mother lets me eat whatever I want, I have a father, Mr Bobo is good with mice and he doesn't smell like cheese and you..." Eddie bit his lower lip and blushed slightly.  
"I what, Eds?"  
"You don't call me Eds. You don't call me at all, you don't talk at all, actually"  
"Wow, thanks. Very flattering" Richie said, bitterly.  
"I'm sorry. I kind of like your mom jokes now, I wouldn't want to get rid of them if they asked me"  
Richie huffed, he didn't reply, so Eddie kept talking.  
"And there's another thing. There's Stanley too, but it's not an other Stanley. It's just... him"  
"So Stanley doesn't need a fix up" the boy muttered, and Eddie sighed.  
"You don't need a fix up okay? I was wrong. Just focus, Richie. That's not the point" he answered, rolling his eyes.

After a few moments of complete stillness, Eddie tried to focus on his breath. He closed his eyes, ignoring other Bill's greeting and thought, with all his strength _"This is not real. This is not real. This is not real"._

When he opened his eyes again and met a beautifully cleaned and sun filled other room, fear and disappointment made his stomach turn upside down.

"Eddie, what's wrong? Are you okay? Do you need me to call for help?" the sound of Bill's concerned voice reminded him of when he had a bad asthma attack at the Quarry and he discovered his inhaler was empty. Bill had jumped on his bike and rode it so fast he made it to the drug store and back with another one in hand in less than ten minutes, a challenge nobody was able to win before.

The thought only made him feel worse, because he knew that thing wasn't Bill, and he had to stop him, he couldn't let him start yelling calling for the other mother or worse.

He looked at the picture, feeling his eyes already wet. He sat on the edge of the bed and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Bill. I really am" he whined, putting the picture under the pillow, muffled noises coming from other Bill's mouth. The sound was so familiar Eddie thought he could cry.

He carefully stood up and reached for the door. He had to think fast. Maybe other mother and Bob were still asleep, he could walk through the door and finally come back.

He looked anxiously out of the doorframe and finally managed to get out of the room. At first, there was silence. Then, when he started slowly walking down the stairs, he heard them.

"What do you mean you don't want to do this anymore?" other mother's voice said. She sounded scared more than angry.

Silence followed, than she talked again. "It already has punished you yesterday, what do you think it'll do if you step back now?" silence, then a groan. "You don't care? You don't care? When yesterday the kid noticed there was something off with you It did this, and now you don't care?"

Eddie frowned, he was on the last step of the stairs now, too afraid to go. The voices apparently came from the living room, and he had to walk there to reach the door. He bit his lips in frustration, when he heard a muffled sound behind his back. He tensed and turned so fast he was scared his neck would snap.

"Stanley? What are you doing here?" he whispered, sighing in relief.

The boy seemed tired, but his eyes were lucid and awake. "I told you I was keeping an eye on you. Plus, I was rummaging in its bedroom to see if there was something useful" he replied.

"And what did you find?"

"Almost nothing. But that was under its pillow, so I assumed it should be important" the boy said, showing him what it seemed like a black shiny stone with a perfectly round hole in the middle of it.

"It looks garbage to me. What if it's poisonous?" Eddie pointed out.

Stanley rolled his eyes. "It's not important now, we have to go"

"How? They're in the living room, there's no way they won't see us!"

"We'll run and we'll hope they won't have the time to stop us?"

"Mhmh, no way" Eddie whined, shaking his head vigorously.

"It's literally the only thing we can do!"

"We could just wait in my room until they leave the house!"

"They're not going to leave the house, there's nothing out there except for the neighborhood. The probably will come to your room to wake you up if you don't show up and then we'll be screwed!"

Eddie bit his lip and scratched nervously his cast. He looked at Stanley with big wide eyes.

"We're going to be okay. I promise. We are going to be okay" his friend said, trying to be reassuring but worried nonetheless

Eddie shut his eyes for a moment, with a scared grimace. He took his inhaler and sucked a breath fervently. The familiar weight in his hand and the taste of the medicine calmed him down a bit. He felt his legs weak, but nodded anyway.

"We got this" Stanley whispered, and they finally made their last step down the stairs. They turned round the corner and obviously two pair of button eyes met them. Eddie froze.

It wasn't that other mother was looking at him with a concerned and angry face. It wasn't either that the door looked more far than he ever thought it would look. It was other Richie. The boy was paler than usual and was slightly shaking. He was looking at him with furrowed brows, and struggled to open his mouth but he couldn't. He couldn't because his lips were sewed with a thread, dry blood on his lips where the tiny holes were.

"What... what did you do to him?" Eddie squeaked, visibly distressed. Other Richie stared without making a sound.

"He was a bad boy, Eddie, he nearly told things he shouldn't ever tell anyone. And you? Are you a bad boy, too?" a voice said, low and deep but still loud in their heads. One of the bathroom doors bursted open.

"Stanley, I thought last time I made myself clear" the voice said. In the bathroom, sitting in front of the mirror, there was Bob. He had half his face covered in white paint, brush still in hand and he was smiling. "You're not allowed here, I gave you my curse for one reason"

"Stan, let's go. Stanley, let's go!" Eddie yelled, pushing him towards the door.

"Take them!" Bob growled, and other Sonia jumped towards them, her face shifting into something unrecognisable, her face suddenly longer, her eyes bigger like she was some kind of hideous bug shaped like a person. She didn't reach them, because other Richie tripped her and she fell loudly on the floor. Bob shrieked, and that awakened immediately the two guys, who ran towards the door, taking advantage of the mess. Stanley opened it and they ran through the corridor as fast as they could, the heavy steps of Bob followed them.

When they bursted out of the other door, Eddie turned to close it and saw him. Saw _it, _to be exact. Its face now was completely white, with two bloody scars from his eyes down his cheeks, his buttoned eyes had turned bright yellow. It was screaming and approaching fast, when Eddie closed the door with a loud thud.

The sound stopped suddenly and the boy sighed. Everything looked completely normal in his real house, bird Stanley was flying furiously in circles round his head.

"Ma? I'm home!" Eddie yelled, his back leaning on the door to keep it close, even if deep down he knew it wasn't necessary, he knew it couldn't get out of there even if it wanted to take him.

When he heard no answer, Eddie gulped. "Ma?" he asked, terror in his voice. "Ma? Do you hear me?"

The boy and the bird exchanged a worried look, when Stanley flew out of the window as fast as he could, tweeting loudly. Eddie stepped away from the door and raced upstairs, opening his mother's bedroom door.

"No. No, no, no, no!" he yelled panicking, and then an idea hit him suddenly. He knew what he had to do. He ran to his bedroom and grabbed the doll. He looked at it in fear, but he held it anyway.

He started running again, doll in his hand, flying down the stairs and out of the house. He raced through the woods, trying not to focus on his breath that was dangerously weak and fast, he knew if it wasn't for the adrenaline in his body he would have passed out already. Everything ached, his broken arm, his legs, his chest with his dry lungs, but he kept running. When he finally was at the well, he dropped the doll in the hole and watched it fall, his heart skipping a beat.

He quickly closed it with a wooden jamb and finally collapsed on the ground, exhausted and scared.

A few seconds of silence passed. Eddie was looking at the closed well with wide eyes, lying exhausted on the ground, struggling to breath but lacking the strength to grab his aspirator and trigger it. He suppressed the thought that told him about how dirty was the ground he was lying on, about the insects and snakes, about the rats and the germs, and everything. It wasn't like he could stand up even if he wanted to.

The only sound he heard was his weak wheezing breathing. That lasted only a few seconds, because suddenly the wooden jamb that locked the well trembled with a loud thud, like something inside wanted to go out desperately. Eddie whined in fear and tried to stand up or at least sit but didn't quite succeed. He lifted his back up a bit and looked at the well in fear.

Another thud, the jamb was visibly shaking. Something was definitely trying to get out. Eddie was suddenly conscious of the fact that if something evil was getting out to chase him, he wouldn't be able to run anymore. He wasn't used to this, and running, screaming and worrying was tiring.

He saw Stanley flying in front of him and heard fervent footsteps coming from behind.

"Eds! Why are you on the ground, what happened, what..." he heard, but he didn't have time to look back because the well bursted open and an enormous rat with big yellow buttons on his long face and sharp theeth came out of it squeaking and splitting fluids on the ground. It smelled of death.

_"I'm going to die" _Eddie thought, frozen in horror, when he heard a loud "Fuck!" and Richie suddenly was in his line of vision with a big baseball bat in hand. Eddie saw the boy hit the hideous mouse with all his strength, making it fall back in the well. Richie closed it again and quickly kicked a big rock on the top of it to block the way out.

"Fuck, that was crazy, man!" Richie breathed out, looking back at him. Stanley was flying in circles above them.

"Thank you" Eddie whispered, still in shock. It all happened so fast that he didn't process what he just saw.

"You able to stand up?"

"I don't know. Let's just wait for a while" he muttered, and Richie nodded, sitting on the ground next to him.

"Did you see its fucking eyes? They were fucking buttons! Damn!" Richie cursed.

"It was the doll you gave me. I dropped it down the well and then it came out like that"

"What?! No way!" The boy yelled with wide eyes. Stanley decided to rest on his shoulder finally stopping his anxious flight.

"Richie I... I have to tell you something. But you won't believe it"

Richie snorted and shrugged his shoulders. "Stanley, _a bird,_ bursted into my room from the window and flew directly to the bat basically asking me to take it and then lead me here. When I arrived a mouse with button eyes as big as a dog attacked me and I hit it with the bat a bird suggested me to carry with me, so I think I'll handle it"

Eddie closed his eyes and sighed. "Remember when I told you I dreamed about you two nights ago? And you didn't talk and we went to Mr Bobinsky's to see the mice show?"

"Yes. Yes, I do"

"Well, it wasn't a dream. It was real. There's a locked door in my home, and behind it there's an other world, where everything is better. My mother lets me eat whatever I want, I have a father, Mr Bobo is good with mice and he doesn't smell like cheese and you..." Eddie bit his lower lip and blushed slightly.

"I what, Eds?"

"You don't call me Eds. You don't call me at all, you don't talk at all"

"Wow, thanks. Very flattering" Richie said, bitterly.

"But that's only what I thought I wanted, certainly not what I needed. It's really different, now I know this"

The boy didn't reply, he looked somehow disappointed.

"I'm sorry. I kind of like your mom jokes now, I wouldn't want to get rid of them if they asked me"

Richie huffed, he didn't reply.

"And there's another thing. There's Stanley too, but it's not an other Stanley. It's just... him"

"So Stanley doesn't need a fix up" the boy muttered, and Eddie sighed.

"You don't need a fix up okay? I was wrong. Just focus, Richie. That's not the point" Eddie answered, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, okay, whatever, keep talking"

"Stanley is not a bird. He's a boy. I saw him. Behind the door he's... I saw his true form, I talked to him!"

"Okay, that's enough, stop fucking with me!"

"I'm not fucking with you! I'm not, I swear! Stan... Stan, do something!"

The bird flew in front of Richie's face, tweeting loudly.

"See?"

"He heard you call him, this doesn't prove anything"

The bird pecked him on the nose, visibly annoyed. "Hey, ouch!"

"Remember the first day, when he basically assaulted my doll? You told me that was weird, didn't you? He was warning me!"

The boy looked hesitant, but he saw too many crazy things that day to not believe it even if only a little bit.

"The other world, it shows you what you think you want, but it's not true! Everything is wrong and once they caught your attention they steal your eyes, and your soul, and you can't come back! I had to run away with Stan's help, they already got me, that's why I dropped the doll in the well! You have to believe me! And now... now they've got my mom!"

"Your mother? How...?"

"I don't know, I think they sensed something was off with me and they kidnapped her to make sure I wasn't leaving! And I have to go back there and I... I will do it, no matter what. But..."

Richie sighed, looking at the sky. "You want me to come with you"

The boy shrugged, embarrassed. "Maybe. Please...? I'm scared" he whispered, and Richie held his breath for a moment, standing up and offering him his hand.

"Okay. But I'm not doing this for you" he said, as Eddie accepted his hand and let him help, slowly standing up himself. "I'm doing this for three reasons and three reasons only."

Eddie nodded expectantly, without letting go of the hand. "One: I don't even believe you so probably I'll just say I'm helping you and I won't have to do anything dangerous"

"I told you, it's..." Richie shut him up with a glare.

"Two: I feel guilty because I gave you the doll and it's kinda my fault"

"Well, maybe that's really a point..."

"Thanks, ungrateful prick. Three: the person I love is in danger and I gotta help"

Eddie looked at him for a moment, frozen, his breath stopped. When he finally managed to talk, he suggested: "You're talking about my mom, aren't you?"

Richie grinned widely and grabbed the bat on the ground with his free hand. "Of course I'm talking about your mom, Eds. She's a dream girl"

"Don't call me Eds!"

They walked home as fast as they could. Eddie took a spare fanny pack for Richie too, but he refused to take it so he put two on himself and filled it with everything he needed. The stone Stanley gave him in the morning, a little torch, two knives, a spare inhaler, medicines, scissors,

"Why the hell do you think we'll need fucking scissors?"

"You can never tell, Richie"

snacks, bandages and some matches. Richie was only taking the bat with him, his glasses on his nose and a serious look on his face.

"Okay, let's see if you're right, Eds"

"I'm always right and do not call me Eds"

The boys exchanged a worried look. Eddie was clearly terrified, he knew what they were going to face, Richie was visibly concerned. Stanley chirped in annoyance, asking them to hurry up.

They slowly walked towards the living room, and Eddie soon noticed the door was half open. He tensed and approached it with a scared face, unable to force himself to touch it.

"I can't do this. I can't do this. I will let my mother die because I'm too scared" he whined, and felt a weight on his shoulder. Richie's hand squeezed it lightly.

"Nobody is going to die today, Eddie. Trust me"

Bird Stanley quickly flew through the half open door and disappeared. The familiar blond boy smirked at them behind the door frame. "I hope Pennywise _is_ going to die. That would be awesome"

He said, and Richie jumped back, yelping. "What the fuck?!" he screamed, looking at the boy with wide eyes.

"See? I'm always right" Eddie said, smiling.

"Hi, Richie. I'm glad I got to talk to you, finally"

"Oh my God" Richie whispered, stepping closer, holding his breath. "Stanley. You're... you're..."

"I know"

Richie slowly got closer and carefully touched his cheek, slapping him lightly, Stanley laughed. "Guess all this time you _really _had a best friend, after all"

"I knew it" the boy said, and jumped to crush him in a hug. "Stan the man! Stan the man is real! Got it? Stan the _man _because he's a man! He's... he's a boy!"

"Okay, okay, touching, really, but don't shout, it's going to hear us!" Eddie whispered, and Stanley sighed at the words. He patted Richie's back and then parted, an apologetic look on his face.

"We'll talk when this will be over" he said, and Richie nodded.

"Okay. Let's go save the love of my life. Mrs K, just to make myself clear" the boy smirked. Eddie rolled his eyes.

"Eddie, remember, ask it to bet. Pennywise loves games, it'll accept, with me it did" Stanley whispered, as they walked through the corridor.

"Yes, and it didn't end well for you, did it?"

"Well, the others I know didn't and it ended even worse, so..."

Richie shivered at the words. "Thanks dear Stanley, that was so reassuring"

They quickly reached the other hand of the corridor, Stan holding the door's handle. "Ready?"

Eddie shook his head. "No. Not a bit. Maybe we should go back. Maybe there's nothing there, maybe I'm just insane"

"If you're insane, we all are" Richie whispered, and Stanley opened the door.

"Wow" Richie said under his breath, looking at the exact replica of Eddie's house. "Why don't you move here? It's like your house, but better"

"Yeah, that's the point!" Stanley complained, rolling his eyes.

"Okay focus guys, we're finding my mom and then we're leaving" Eddie whispered, stepping in the living room.

"Not so fast, darling" a low growling voice startled them. From the kitchen door, Bob came in full clown suit, white face and yellow buttons for the eyes. He was smiling, a small drop of split coming down from its lips.

"Eddie, Stanley, you brought a friend, I see" the clown said, and Richie held his bat thighter.

"Where... where's my mother?" Eddie asked, heart almost ripping off his chest. The man was hideous and his smile was pure evil. It felt wrong looking at it and listening to its voice even more.

"Don't worry about her now. You'll have to worry about yourself more. I really loved you, you know, and you had to ruin it"

"You really had a weird way to show it" Stanley interrupted.

"You shut up" Pennywise hissed. "God, I hate birds" he complained, and stepped towards them.

Eddie felt Richie's hand hold his arm and pulling him closer as the clown approached them. "Now I'm going to kill you, I fear. You brought me to do it, Eddie"

"He... he wanted to ask you something first, right Eddie?" Stanley squeaked, stepping back as it came towards them.

Eddie tensed and nodded widely. "Yes! Yes, I wanted to... I wanted to make a bet. With you" Richie's hold tightened.

Pennywise laughed, and the sound made all of the children feel nauseous. Stanley's hands were shaking, while he was looking at the monster completely terrified. "A bet? Really? You really didn't learn from your friend, did you? This won't help you, trust me kid. Bad idea"

"You're only scared we would win, that's why you don't want us to do it!" Richie said, and the clown frowned.

"I'm not scared of anything" it snapped.

"So you're bravely refusing to challenge a kid half your age?" Stanley asked, carefully picking his words.

"I didn't say I refused" it finally answered. After moments of silence, its smile widened. A drop of split fell on the floor and Eddie frowned in disgust. "Okay. Let's make a bet. I bet you won't be able to find your mother _and_ the souls of the three children I have here in one hour"

"One hour?" Richie yelled, not able to hold himself.

"Take it or leave it!" Pennywise cheered.

Eddie closed his eyes and sighed. He whined loudly, already knowing he was going to regret this. "If I win I want my mother back, and my friends, they have to be safe. I want Stanley back to being a boy, he has to find his family back. And I want the souls of the children to be free"

"There's a lot of things on the plate. Don't you think you're being too greedy?" Pennywise whispered, but it sounded amused. It clearly didn't plan to lose.

Eddie shook his head. "I'm not being greedy. If I lose you can take me. I won't leave you, not ever, and you'll have my mom too"

"Still too much, we're not remotely even yet" the clown said.

"And I'll stop being a bird. I'll just give you my soul, like the other children" Stanley offered, and the other two boys looked at him in shock.

Pennywise looked pleased, but it still wasn't enough. "I want him, too" he said, pointing at Richie.

Eddie bit his lower lip and shook his head. "Mhmh. No way. He's here just to help. He's nothing to do with this"

"I want him too. Then, we're even"

Richie's hand gently caressed his arm, and Eddie heard him say "I'm in" weakly.

"You're what?" Stanley asked, and Pennywise giggled. "Good choice, kid. We'll have a lot of fun!" he said happily. Then his face became suddenly serious. "You know this place too well. You can't help" he growled, low terrifying voice that went directly to Eddie's stomach and turned it upside down in fear. Stanley yelped and suddenly disappeared.

"Stan!" Richie cried, and the clown bowed, smiling widely.

"You'll have him back in an hour, if you're good enough. Good luck!" it said, then he jumped scarily on its feet and the second it landed it disappeared, one bloody red balloon floating where it stood the moment before.

"Fuck" Eddie whispered, as soon as they were alone. "Fuck, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Actually, I was thinking about your mom"

"This is so not funny, Richie!"

"There's no way I would leave you behind Eds, we're in this together" the boy said in such a firm tone Eddie had to give up.

"Thanks. You didn't have to do that"

"I wanted to"

The two exchanged an unreadable look, Eddie feeling the familiar knots in his stomach, some words that desperately wanted to escape his lips but he didn't even aknowledged what they were.

"Okay boss, where do we start?" Richie asked, with a confident smile. Eddie didn't know how he did it. He looked so sure they could handle this it was unbelievable.

"I don't know. Stanley gave me this, few hours ago. It may be useful" he muttered, trying not to think about the weirdness going on in his stomach. He opened his fanny pack and took the stone his friend gave him.

He looked at it frowning in confusion. "Okay, what could it be useful for?" he said, biting his lower lip. It wasn't heavy and had a tiny hole at the center of it. Eddie touched it, it was cold and smooth.

Richie took it from his hands and kneeled in front of him. "Give me your hand"

Eddie furrowed his brows. "Why? What are you doing?"

"Just do it, it's for the experiment!"

"Okay..." Eddie said hesitantly, offering him his sane hand. Richie grinned and took it in his hands.

The boy tucked his ring finger in the hole and asked, in a deep low voice: "Edward Kaspbrak... will you marry me?"

Eddie slapped him in the forhead, rolling his eyes. "We have one hour, Richard. Pull yourself togheter!"

"Is this a no? Damn. Anyway I'm just figuring out how should we use it, I joined at gave it a try" he replied, taking the stone back and looking at Eddie through the hole. "Look, Eds! A monocle!"

"You're an idiot, you know that right? And don't call me Eds" he said, but no comeback came. Richie was frowning and quickly removed the stone from his face.

"What now?"

"I think... I think I figured it out" Richie whispered, standing up and looking at Eddie, blinking in confusion.

"If it's a joke Rich I swear to God..."

Richie handed him the stone. "Look through it. It's not a joke, I swear. Trust me"

And Eddie did. As soon as his eye got near the hole, he froze. He blinked in confusion as he looked closer.

His vision in the hole was black and white, as if there was a filter in it somehow. He removed it and looked around, the room was perfectly normal. He put it back on. Everything was black and white again.

"Fuck. You're brilliant buddy" Eddie whispered with such admiration that Richie felt a warm feeling of pride overwhelming him.

"Thanks" he said, clearing his throat. "But how... how should we use this?"

"I don't know. I think we'll have to look around with that" Eddie replied, looking at him with one eye closed and the other behind the stone. Richie chuckled.

"You're cute like this"

"I'm not, stop saying that" Eddie muttered, looking around with the help of the stone. When his eyes landed on the window, he tensed.

"There! Look!" he handed Richie the stone and he took it. Behind his own house, the one on the right was lightly sparkling with blue and golden light.

"Wow. Okay. Let's start there" the boy said, putting the stone in his pocket. Eddie nodded.

Richie held the bat with his right hand and squeezed it, sighing deeply. "You ready?" he asked, looking directly in his eyes.

"I have to" Eddie replied, and hesitantly took his friend's free hand in his.

"We've got this, Eds"

"Don't call me Eds, you know I hate it"

Richie bit his lower lip and looked like he was going to say something, something meaningful. His eyes had a light in them that Eddie couldn't quite read. For some reason he changed his mind, because he said "let's go", with a weak smile, and for Eddie it was enough.

_"We can do this. We have to"_ he thought, and somehow he really believed they could, this time.


	6. Knowledge, Love and Bravery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You're going to die! I'm going to eat your flesh the same way I ate your fears and you're going to die!" a long whisper came to their ears, it was far away now that they were deep down, and Eddie's heart froze.  
"We're going to die. Shit, Rich, we really are going to die. It's my fault, I'm so sorry"  
"Eds, listen..." he waited for an interruption because of the pet name but it didn't come, so he kept talking. "Is this a bad moment to say I may be into you?" he asked anxiously, eyes wide.  
Eddie turned to face him in the blink of an eye and stared speechless for a few seconds. He blinked slowly, while everything went darker. He squeezed Richie's hand and said "It is. It's the worst timing ever, Richie. Don't you fucking see that?"  
The boy looked already panicked, so his expression barely changed. "I'm sorry, I..."  
"Just as it's the worst moment in the world to say that I'm certainly into you, too"

When they were finally standing outside Miss Spink's and Miss Forcible's apartment, they hesitantly looked at the handle, lacking the strength to finally get inside.

"Maybe we shouldn't. Maybe living here forever is not so bad after all. Maybe we should just give up" Eddie whispered, shutting his eyes closed.

From Miss Spink's and Miss Forcible's keyhole came a faint blue light, only visible looking through their precious stone.

"I don't know about you, but I care about my eyes, thank you very much Eds"

Eddie shook his head feverishly, whining and stepping back. "I can't, there's no way I can get inside and face whatever the hell there is behind that door, I'm not brave enough"

"Eddie, bud, this is like the worst moment to have a breakdown. Besides, we already talked about this. You're braver than you think. You are the bravest person I know. You didn't follow your mother's orders, you came into my house and ate my food even if you were still worried it could have hurted you and you came here to save your mom and the other children even if you were outside safe and sound in the real world"

"But I'm scared" Eddie muttered, eyes still closed. He felt a reassuring squeeze on his hand.

"When you're scared and you do it anyway, that's brave" Richie said, smiling. "Plus, we have a nice baseball bat I can beat some asses with. We're basically invincible!"

Eddie sighed heavily and finally whispered "okay. Okay, I'm in. I can do this"

"Of course you can. We both do"

The boy opened his eyes looked hesitantly at Richie. "Togheter?" he asked in a whisper, and his friend nodded. Letting go of his hand, he took the handhold and pushed.

What they saw was nothing they expected it to be. The light was switched off and there was a deafening silence. The dogs were sleeping on the floor, button eyes that could not be closed, apparently lifeless if not for the light snoring that came from their mouths.

Eddie slowly took the stone from his fanny pack, careful not to wake up the animals, and looked through it, holding his breath. He almost didn't notice the difference since it was so dark everything was basically already black and white, but there was a faint blue light coming from the stage. He pointed it to Richie silently, because he couldn't spot it without the stone, and the boy nodded.

They silently approached the stage, walking carefully, avoiding the sleeping dogs. Richie grimaced looking at the animals with their creepy button eyes that couldn't see him. He helped Eddie go up the stage with his plastered arm and then joined him.

They exchanged a worried look and Eddie opened the red curtains with a big gesture.

Laying down on the floor, arms and legs entangled, there were other Miss Spink and other Miss Forcible, beautiful as the night before, hugging mindlessly while deeply asleep.

"Sexy" Richie commented under his breath, and Eddie slapped his arm with a huff.

He looked through his stone again and groaned.

"What now?" Richie whispered, confused.

"The first soul is down there" Eddie replied, pointing at the two young women. Between them, in the middle of the limbs' mess, the blue light was glowing.

Richie cursed silently, looking nervously around to find something they could use to take it.

"I have to grab it, there's no time to think about something else" Eddie said, and his friend shook his head.

"No way Eds, you'll wake them up for sure"

"If I do, we run. And, for the love of God, don't call me Eds"

"What if the dogs will wake up, too?"

"Then you'll have to kick some asses with the bat like you said you would've"

Richie gulped, looking hesitantly back at the sleeping dogs. "Okay" he whispered, it didn't sound convincing.

Eddie bit his lower lip hard as he sighed and kneeled carefully next to them. He put his shivering hand in the tangle of limbs, and he heard Richie say "God, wish that was me" playfully.

"You're disgust..." but he didn't finish the sentence because he suddenly touched something warm and smooth that wasn't part of the women's bodies. "I think I got it!"

"Okay, cool, take it and we're going" Richie muttered, anxiously.

As soon as Eddie's fingers grabbed the tiny marble he found with his hand and took it quietly out of the tangled arms and legs, a ear piercing scream made them both jump.

"Thief!" other Miss Spink shouted, and grabbed Eddie's wrist.

"Fuck!" he squeaked, trying to step back. Richie hit her with all his strength with the baseball bat, and the woman let go of Eddie, whining.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Eddie yelled, noticing the dogs were awake now and growling towards them.

"Let's go out of here, now!" Richie shouted, jumping down the stage.

"Thief!" other Miss Forcible was screaming now, standing up furiously and trying to reach the two boys, Eddie jumping down the stage too, following Richie's lead with the marbled soul in his hand.

The dogs surrounded them, barking and trying to bite them, Eddie furiously kicking them on the mouth while Richie was swinging the bat to scare them.

"Rich!" Eddie screamed, noticing the two women were after them, walking through the room, their button eyes shining in the dark room.

One of the dogs managed to bite Eddie's hand, who almost dropped the soul, yelping in pain. He gave a big kick to the dog and kept running, tears in his eyes as his hand started bleeding.

"Fuck, Eds, you okay?"

"Only if you don't call me... hey! Ouch!" he yelled, as two of the dogs held both his shoes from the shoelaces, nearly making him fall. Other miss Spink and other Miss Forcible were almost there.

"Take the soul and go, I'm screwed!" Eddie said, handing him the marble.

"No way, I'm not going anywhere without you" he replied, hitting one of the dogs in the head.

"It's our last-" other Miss Forcible, with her long beautiful legs was the first to arrive, smiling creepily at them, her partner soon reaching for her.

"Don't make a step further or I'll... I'll.. I'll beat you!" Richie said, weakly raising his bat.

Eddie tried to clear his head, worry filling him like poison, when he looked around to find any clue about how to survive this. When he looked at the locked windows he suddenly remembered something.

"I never saw any of them outside of the flat. Never. And I never saw even one window open. They never followed me outside" he whispered in Richie ear.

"Cool, so what?" he asked, looking scared at the two women towering them.

"I think they can't leave the flat. It's like..."

"... like a videogame. One step behind the door and they can't hurt you"

"Exactly"

"Okay, now!" Richie suddenly screamed, hitting other Miss Spink hard in the face, other Miss Forcible reaching for him and grabbing his arm. Eddie kicked her ankle and pushed Richie away while she cried.

They started running towards the door, the dogs chasing them and actually succeeding in biting their legs, and when one of them made Eddie fall on the floor and shriek in pain he just threw the marble with all his strength out of the half open door.

The instant later, the ball landing on the ground in the garden, the flat was suddenly empty except for the two panting boys.

"Fuck, I can't believe it worked" Eddie muttered, and then looked up at Richie. "Thanks for not leaving when you had the chance to"

"There's no way I'm leaving you behind like that. You able to stand up?"

Eddie nodded and Richie helped him, they slowly walked outside, limping because of the pain. Eddie had bleeding scars on his legs and hands, the dogs had targeted him because of the soul he was holding. Outside of the house they spotted the marble and sat next to it.

Eddie unzipped his fanny pack and grabbed his disinfectant. He started spreading it on the cuts, looking deeply focused. Richie was staring at him with dreamy eyes, but he couldn't see that, focused on the task.

"Could you please give me my bifocals? They're in my second fanny pack" Eddie said under his breath.

"That's the most awesome thing anybody had ever told me" Richie replied, smirking.

Finally, Eddie looked up. "Stop fucking with me and help me dipshit, time is running out"

"I'm not fucking with you. I bet you're the cutest in fucking bifocals" the boy smiled, in such an earnest voice it made Eddie's heart rate fasten suddenly. He didn't know that, but Richie's heart was running in his chest too, and that had nothing to do with the imminent danger, at least not completely.

"If time's running over maybe just let it be Eds"

"I won't be able to save the day if I'll get tetanus because of my open wounds, and don't call me Eds"

Eddie finally managed to take the blue marble from the ground where he threw it in the first place.

As soon as he took it, suddenly, everything was white. He wasn't in the other garden anymore, he couldn't see the woods, or the hills, or the sky, neither he could see Richie. There was only him, light and a boy he never saw before smiling at him. He had smart eyes, a big smile, smooth dark skin, and he was fairly tall.

"Hi, Eddie. My name is Mike Hanlon. Thank you for saving my soul and freeing me, today" the boy said, and Eddie felt a relaxing feeling wave him as his heart rate and breathing calmed down.

"You're welcome, I guess? Stanley told me about you yesterday. He said you're really nice"

Mike smiled even wider, his eyes softening at the thought. "He is the best, I'm sorry I didn't listen to him. I should have, but I didn't and it took me"

"It's okay, I guess. I didn't listen to him, either, at first"

Mike muttered a a"thank you" and stepped closer to him, cupping the back of Eddie's neck with his hands. Eddie blinked in confusion, his body tensing at the touch.

"Your idea to throw the soul out of the door was very smart, and now you saved me. Because of that, I'm giving you the gift of knowledge" Mike whispered, and stepping closer again he carefully kissed him on the forhead.

Eddie felt everything in him heat up and his breath stop as he jumped and suddenly found himself on the ground, Richie hardly slapping him with a worried grimace on his face.

"Ouch! What the fuck?!" Eddie asked, and Richie sighed in relief.

"You blacked out for one solid minute, I was totally freaking out, what happened?"

Eddie realised he didn't have the marble in his hand anymore, and he looked at Richie with wide eyes

"I saw Mike, one of the children. He showed me things. We're screwed" he whispered, shaking lightly.

"What are you talking about? What happened? Did you see something?"

"Mike's soul spoke to me. And then he said he was giving me _knowledge, _and I didn't understand at first, but then he like kissed my forhead and-"

"Gross" Richie interrupted, and Eddie gave him a side annoyed look,

"_And_ suddenly now I know things. I know where my mother is, I know what Pennywise planned for us. And we're screwed. We can't win" Eddie said, voice weak as he stared blankly at Richie.

"Why are you saying this? What do you know? Are you sure?"

"My mother, she's back in my real home. She was never here in the first place I guess, it just attracted her out when I was back to let me think he got her. She's in the real world and Pennywise wouldn't let us go out there if we don't find her first, which we can't because she's not here. We can't win. And then it'll kill me and take your soul and Stanley's and wait for another kid to show up"

"Shit. What do we do now?" 

"I don't know. I don't want to die, Richie" he whined.

"I don't want you to. And certainly I don't want to give the asshole my soul"

"What do you think we should do?"

Richie shook his head. He didn't understand why Eddie was so interested in his opinion, since he found him dumb and odd for sure, but here they were so he gave him his two cents anyway. "I guess we'll have to find the other two souls and then try to sneak out of the door to _WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?_"

The scream made Eddie jump in surprise as he turned to face what Richie was fussing over about. As soon as he saw it, understanding hit him. He half opened his mouth in a surprised "oh", looking at the boy approaching them.

Other Richie looked broken. He was limping, his shirt was ripped and dirty with dry blood, he had a huge bruise on his forehead and the mouth still sewed closed. The first impulse Eddie had was to jump up and run to him, asking him if he was okay. But when he found himself on his feet, he remembered that thing wasn't Richie. Richie was almost safe and almost sound next to him. That thing was one of Pennywise's creatures and he couldn't trust him.

"Richie, what happened?" Eddie asked calmly, looking at the boy who shrugged his shoulders and then grimaced in pain.

"Fuck, this is so weird" he heard real Richie whisper, as the other slowly came closer. Eddie stepped back, looking suspiciously at him.

"I'm sorry for what he did because of me, but I can't trust you, you know that, right?" he asked, and the boy suddenly stopped. He grabbed something he had in his pocket and silently handed it to him. Real Richie held Eddie's arm and squeezed it, eyes never leaving his almost twin.

The thing other Richie was trying to give them was a red bouncy ball.

Eddie quickly took the stone from his fanny pack and looked at it hesitantly. The world was black and white again, and the thing in other Richie's hands shined with a pink glow.

"It's real" Eddie whispered, giving real Richie the stone almost absent mindedly. "Why are you giving this to me? You'll vanish. It doesn't make sense"

"Just take it and let's go, Eddie" real Richie said, looking scared at his copy in front of him.

"No, wait! What if it's a trap?"

"We don't have time for this, just take it!" real Richie repeated, rising his voice.

"How can you be so sure he isn't trying to fool us? He'll disappear if I take it! It just doesn't make sense!"

"This thing is supposed to be me, right?"

"I guess so" Eddie muttered.

"Then it makes perfect sense, take it and let's go"

"But why-"

"We don't have time for this. I know why, that's enough. Trust me" Richie said, and it was enough, indeed. Because Eddie trusted him with his life, despite knowing him only for a few days.

He carefully stepped forward and took the soul from other Richie's hands. "Thank you, I guess" he said, and then the boy vanished in front of his eyes.

The second later, everything was white again.

"Woah! I'm never getting used to this" he said, his eyes adjusting to the light.

In front of him, a chubby boy with the sweetest smile and blond fluffy hair looked at him with a thankful smile. A nice feeling of calmness and peace filled him again, like it was with Mike.

"Hi, Eddie. I'm Ben. Thank you for finding my soul"

"My pleasure" Eddie answered, politely.

"You're doing this not only for yourself but for us, too. I'm very touched" Ben explained, and Eddie found himself agreeing with Stanley. Ben really was the kindest.

"You gained the stone because of what you feel and what other people feel about you. Other Richie gave it to you without you even asking, and that was really powerful"

Eddie frowned in confusion and shrugged his shoulders awkwardly. "Well, thank you" he said, looking at his feet.

"For that and for trying to save me and succeeding," Ben said, putting both his hands on Eddie's chest, were his heart was supposed to be, an electric feeling running all over his body, "I give you the gift of love" the boy finished in a whisper, and when Eddie gasped for air again, he saw Richie shaking his shoulders frantically.

"¿Todo bien, amigo?" he asked, in a bad mexican voice.

"What?" Eddie asked, still a bit shocked.

"You okay? You saw the kid again? What did he show you?"

Eddie realised that he now knew something else too, just like the time before. He looked at Richie feeling his mouth dry. "I didn't see Mike. It was Ben" he whispered.

"Cool. And what do we know now? How do we stop it? What did he teach you this time?"

_"Queers", Stanley said, "are the ones who love different. Do you know what I mean?"_   
_"I think I do"_

Everything he felt in the past days and even in the past years suddenly made sense. The way he lived for the moments he was swimming with Bill at the Quarry, the ache in his stomach when he thought about getting married in the future, the sense of relief hearing about his neighbours living togheter, the adrenaline and speeding heart rate every time Richie took his hand, _everything_ made sense now.

"Earth to Eddie, earth to Eddie" he heard, Richie squeezing his shoulders again, and Eddie jumped back.

"He didn't tell me anything important! We're wasting time. Let's go get the last soul" he replied, taking his hand and pushing him forward.

"Woah, you okay Eds?"

"I'll be if you stop calling me Eds!" he replied harshly, and Richie frowned.

The feeling of guilt and bitterness in his tongue was worse now that Eddie knew the meaning behind it. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that. I'm just nervous"

"No problem, Eduardo" he replied, relaxing his shoulders a bit.

"This is useless, you know. All of this is. We're going to find the last soul, and then we won't be able to find my mother and we'll be screwed anyway" Eddie muttered, going up the stairs that lead to Mr Bobinsky's flat, following the faint golden light the stone showed him.

"At least the three children will be free" Richie said, sighing deeply.

"Yeah, lucky them" Eddie replied under his breath.

When they were facing the entrance door, the boys exchanged a quick worried look. "Okay. They can't go outside the flat, no matter how hard they try. We just have to throw it out of the door or the window as soon as we get it. Easy, right?" Richie asked hesitantly.

"Guess so. We've got this, right?"

"Right" he nodded, and squeezed his baseball bat with one hand and Eddie's hand in the other.

Eddie closed his eyes, trying to stop the terrifying feeling that was currently overwhelming him. He whined loudly but he opened the door with his free hand, the one with the cast. As soon as he did, dozens of button eyes turned to look at them at the same time.

Richie cursed under his breath, Eddie frozen on the spot, both staring at the ugly rats in the room that once we're supposed to be Mr Bobo's pet mice. On the floor, the man's clothes were lying empty like the man just disappdisappeared leaving them behind.

"I think they ate him" Eddie whispered, voice shaking, and Richie gulped.

"Thanks for telling me that, I feel so much better now" he said, the note of sarcasm lost in the scared tone in his voice.

"So, shall we get in?" Eddie asked hesitantly, the rats waiting for them to step in the flat as they couldn't go outside.

"Maybe look at where the soul is first, it'll be easier to take it quickly then.

"Yes, you're right" Eddie agreed, and Richie took the stone from his pocket and handed it to him. The boy looked carefully through it and groaned.

"Oh, no" he whined, and Richie looked at him with a questioning look.

"It's there" he whispered, pointing at a ball in the mouth of one of the rats.

"Oh, no" Richie echoed, looking hopelessly at it. "There's a chance you have some cheese in that fanny pack of yours?"

"Of course I have it! How come I didn't think about it first??"

"Really?" Richie asked, his face lighting up immediately.

"Of course not, asshole! Why would I have cheese in my fanny packs?"

"Well you have bifocals, so..."

"I use them to read! It's a totally different thing!" Eddie yelled, and Richie shook his head.

"Okay, we're wasting time. We have to go" Richie said, even if his body language screamed about how he would rather run away as fast as he could.

The rats were still staring at them, waiting for them to come in.

Totally unexpectedly, without a warning, Eddie jumped inside the room, yelling like hell. Richie yelped in surprise and after a second of freezing shock joined him swinging his bat towards the rats. The animals jumped on them squeaking and started running on them tickling them with their paws and leaving small bites.

"I'll get rabies, I know this" Eddie groaned, trying to shake them off his body.

"Go fuck yourselves, motherfuckers!" Richie cursed, slapping himself trying to get rid of them.

They bot jumped towards the one with the ball in its mouth but the mouse was fast, much more than them, and the other mice were successfully disturbing them.

"That's cause you don't have fucking cheese, Eds!" Richie complained, throwing a mouse on the floor after picking him on the top of his head.

"I hate you" Eddie groaned, jumping to reach the rat with the ball. "Ouch!" he screamed, seeing black for a few seconds, since he just landed on his broken arm.

"Eddie!" Richie cried, reaching for him, concern on his face.

"I have it! I have it, let's go!" he said, showing him the ball, his eyes wet yet. 

Richie offered his hand and he took it, standing up quickly, ready to burst out. "Fuck!" he screamed, when his hand was shaking so much the ball fell on the floor and the rats ran to take it.

"No way!" Richie roared as he crashed the bat on the floor making them spread around, squeaking and gritting their theeth. He quickly took it and felt Eddie's hands pushing him hard out of the door.

The second he was out, Eddie still inside,by surrounded by the mice, and kicking them fiercely, everything vanished again, and the boy sighed in relief, leaning to the doorframe, reaching for his aspirator and triggering it for dear life.

"Here, all yours" Richie said, handing the tiny ball that Eddie knew was sparkling with golden magic.

"Thanks. You were great in there" he thanked, smiling weakly at him and accepting the soul.

"You're always great" Richie couldn't hold back and as soon as he heard what he just said he cleared his throat awkwardly and jumped down the stairs.

Eddie stepped forward to join him and tell him what he was subconsciously thinking since he first saw him and what he finally realised when he talked with Ben in the void. He was scared and embarrassed and they were ridiculously late, but it wasn't like they could win anyway and it could be the last time to say it out loud to his friend.

But when he was one moment from telling him everything, he was back in the whiteness and a wonderful, bright eyed, redhead girl was throwing her arms around his neck.

"Eddie!"

"Wow, well, hi. Beverly, right?" he asked, awkwardly patting her back as she crushed him in a hug. Suddenly, he felt happy and relaxed.

"It's me!" she cheered, finally parting and stepping back to look at him. "Thanks for taking my soul from Pennywise's hands"

Eddie thought the way she was smiling could light up galaxies, closely to the way Bill's smiles did. _"Charismatic" _was the word that came to his mind.

"You're welcome. Stanley told me you're a cool girl, I see he was right" he said, after a moment of brief confusion.

"Well, not half as cool as you. I let it stole my eyes, and my soul with them"

"Stanley told me too, and he told me why. It's not your fault Beverly, it never was"

Her gaze saddened suddenly, but the smile on her lips didn't falter once. "Thank you, this means a lot to me"

She stared at him for a moment, then reached for his hands, and took them in hers.

"When you came to take my soul after you knew your case was already lost, even if you were scared, even if you knew it would be useless for you, you gained it. Therefore, I honour you with the gift of bravery. This kills monsters, if you believe it does" she whispered softly, squeezing his hands. "Say hi to my nephew for me, will you?"

Beverly's light hearted laugh still ringed in his ears and warmth filled his stomach when he found himself back on the steps of his neighbors' house.

"Eddie? What the fuck his that?" Richie asked in a whisper, trying to hide the concern on his face. He was waiting patiently on the last step, ready to go back up and help him.

"It was Beverly, your aunt. She's awesome. She says hi" he whispered, and saw Richie flinch at the words. That's when he noticed he was holding something, a sharp fence post, to be exact. "She gave me that, I guess. She's really nice"

"Oh. I saw her in pictures at home. My mom says she's awesome, too"

"She really is. And she's happy now. She's free. Maybe we should tell your mom that"

"Yes, as if she'd believe us, and, most importantly, as if we'll make it out of here alive" he said jokingly, but his eyes told he was telling the truth.

"Yeah, you're right" Eddie sighed, coming down the stairs with a frown. "What are we going to do now?"

Richie's eyes sparkled with an excited light. "Let's go kill this fucking clown. With that damn thing my aunt gave you"

Eddie felt adrenaline flowing in his veins as he nodded, holding the fence post thightly.

_"This kills monsters if you believe it does"._

Richie's fingers brushed against his and he took his hand with an half smile. The act had become so natural in this few days, so familiar it felt unreal.

"Let's go kill this fucking clown" Eddie agreed, as they walked cross the garden, heart almost ripping off his chest, holding his breath and grounding himself with the help of Richie's hand.

When they were at the porch Eddie hesitantly opened the door, behind that Pennywise was waiting for them, smiling.

"Hi Eddie, hi Richie. Did you find everything I asked you to?" he asked playfully

"We found the three souls and I'm sure you already know it, as well as that we couldn't find my mother, since she's never been here in the first place" Eddie said sharply

The clown laughed, splitting saliva all over the floor. Eddie gagged loudly, Richie's hand squeezing his as he pulled him closer.

"You can't prove it though, do you?" it asked, his voice high and merry, that sent a shiver directly to Eddie's spine.

"Mike told me, it's the truth and you know it! You asked us to find my mother because you knwe we couldn't! She's not here in the other world!" Eddie said, raising his voice.

"If you can't prove it you can't do anything about that, I fear. If you can, tell me and I'll be _soooo__ happy _to claim that you won" it sang, jumping in an excited dance move. "On the other hand... if you can't prove it, all that I know is that you couldn't find everything that I asked for and I'm going to kill you as promised"

"Over my dead fucking body" Richie hissed, and Pennywise smiled at him.

"Gladly" it growled, and suddenly the floor started to sink deep down in the ground, the furniture slowly crashing and vanishing, and the boys fell in what it looked like a deep growing hole under their feet.

"What the fuck?!" Richie screamed not knowing what to hold into. The floor and walls were sticky and they struggled to walk, feet almost glued on the spot. 

"You're going to die! I'm going to eat your flesh the same way I ate your fears and you're going to die!" a long whisper came to their ears, it was far away now that they were deep down, and Eddie's heart froze.

"We're going to die. Shit, Rich, we really are going to die. It's my fault, I'm so sorry"

"Eds, listen..." he waited for an interruption because of the pet name but it didn't come, so he kept talking. "Is this a bad moment to say I may be into you?" he asked anxiously, eyes wide.

Eddie turned to face him in the blink of an eye and stared speechless for a few seconds. He blinked slowly, while everything went darker. He squeezed Richie's hand and said "It is. It's the worst timing ever, Richie. Don't you fucking see that?"

The boy looked already panicked, so his expression barely changed. "I'm sorry, I..."

"Just as it's the worst moment in the world to say that I'm certainly into you, too"

"You are?" Richie asked, his mouth dry.

"I am. Now climb this fucking sticky floor, wall, whatever and go out of the door, I know you can"

"What? And what about you?"

"I won't be able to climb anything with my broken arm, and it will come after me, so you'll be able to go out unnoticed"

Richie opened his mouth, outraged. "No fucking way! I would never do something like that!"

"This is not a joke Richie, you can't die down here, it would be point-"

"I'm coming!" a ear piercing voice screamed, the boys had to cover their ears with their hands.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Richie squeaked, as the floor and walls trembled vigorously as what it looked like a disfigured Pennywise was quickly going down, limbs exceptionally long, face thin, and long sharp theeth.

"Last chance for you to go out, Rich" Eddie whined, looking at Pennywise getting closer and closer.

Richie shook his head and he cupped Eddie's chin with his hands, shifting his vision, trying to ignore the noises of the clown. His eyes were wet and wide and so were Eddie's.

"Look at me, Eddie. Please"

"We're going to die, aren't we?" he whispered, trying to turn his head and face Pennywise, he could hear him getting closer.

"Don't look. Please, look at me instead" Richie pleaded and the only thing Eddie managed to think was _"This is not fair" _

The scream they heard was loud and heartbreaking, as Pennywise jumped on them. Eddie was frozen in shock and shut his eyes, whining in pain and fear. Richie quickly grabbed back his bat and hit it in the face, but it didn't work. It came again, button eyes shining and the watered mouth curled in a creepy smile.

"You think you're going to do something with that piece of garbage? I'm going to eat you" it cheered, and in a quick move it bit Richie's bat and crushed it with its theeth. They boy yelped, jumping back.

"You'll be the first to die" it hissed, and soon his long sharp fingers went directly to Richie's neck, slowly chocking him. The boy brought his hands to his neck, trying to free himself, weak rasping breaths while his knees shivered, his mouth open trying to gasp for air.

"What did you just said, Richie? _Over your fucking dead body_? I guess we're-"

_"This kills monsters if you believe it does" _Eddie heard again in his mind, and he acted.

"I will fucking kill you!" the boy screamed, finally awake from the shock, holding his fence post like it was the only thing keeping him alive. He raised it and stabbed Pennywise deep in his skull. As soon as its head crushed, its hold let go of Richie, who collapsed on the floor, desperately sucking for air.

The scream that came out of Pennywise's lungs was so high all of the windows crashed and shattered glass landed everywhere, cutting their skin.

_"It kills monsters if you believe it does" _Eddie thought, and he believed. The moment after, everything went black.

* * *

"Guys? Guys?" Eddie groaned when a familiar voice woke him up, slowly blinking his eyes open. He soon realised he was in his real house, mediocre furniture, dusty stairs and everything. It was like a ton of weight just fell off his shoulders.

Stanley was leaning over them, Richie still with his eyes closed, and an annoyed grimace on his face.

"Thank God, you're awake. You were absolutely great! Stunning, even! I'm so glad the doll found you Eddie, and I'm so glad you were with him Rich, it was perfect. Maybe that's why the first three times it didn't work, maybe it was meant to be a team work from the start" he said excitedly, the other two didn't reply, still confused. The boy sighed, slightly annoyed with this lack of response.

"Okay, okay, I'm giving you a few minutes to recover. Eddie, your mother is asleep in her room, she's okay. Richie, your parents are worried, find a nice excuse or they're going to be real mad. As Pennywise promised in its bet I found my family, I know where they are, well, my great nephews at least, and I'll go find them I guess, tomorrow. If I can stay the night at your place of course Richie, and you'll have to borrow me some money too, and..."

"Shut the fuck up Stanley, I nearly got killed by a fucking killer clown, I think I deserve some sleep" Richie cursed, and Eddie chuckled. He had never been tipsy, but that's exactly how he felt right now, or at least how he assumed he felt.

He turned on his right side, and grabbed his aspirator, triggering it and breathing with his mouth on it, then he smiled at Richie affectionately and asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, thanks to my knight in shining armour, Edward Spaghedward" the boy breathed out, a small smile on his lips.

"Frankly, I hate you"

"You don't. You're into me, remember? You told me before just before saving my life. God, you're a sap. I love it"

Stanley groaned loudly and rolled his eyes. "Okay. Gross. I'm leaving, for real this time. See you later, lovebirds" he said, curling his lips in disgust.

"Stanley, wait!" Eddie said, making him stop on the spot.

"What now?"

"I think I may be queer" Eddie said smiling, his eyes still fixed on Richie's.

"Who could have predicted that?" Stanley asked sarcastically, finally leaving the living room with a huff.

"I don't know what it means, but it sounds like the best thing anybody had ever said to me" Richie whispered, and winked at him.

"I think it could be" Eddie replied, as he leaned in and made their lips brush in a brief kiss. The short act left both of them breathless and with the face flushed.

"If I'm dreaming, don't you fucking dare wake me up" Richie said smiling, kissing him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta - daaa! Halloween AU finally finished!  
The fact that I posted the first chapter for Halloween and the rest of the fic is one week late is totally irrelevant of course, lol.
> 
> Thanks again to @theghostwriter on Tumblr for the idea and for letting me write all this!  
Go check their Tumblr profile, it's so cool and they even posted some wonderful fanarts about this Coraline!AU, you'll love them, I swear.
> 
> Let me know what you think, feedbacks are always appreciated!


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